Farage claimed to have bought a house in Clacton which turned out to have been bought by his girlfriend. People are shocked that he has a girlfriend.
Nigel Farage made a big deal of announcing last November that he had “bought a house” in Clacton. Presumably this was to demonstrate his commitment to his constituency. It has now been discovered that it was actually purchased in his girlfriend’s name. The substantial detached property in an upmarket part of Clacton-on-Sea is solely owned by Laure Ferrari,
Suggestions that her name was used for the transaction as a way to avoid higher-rate stamp duty are obviously mischievous and mendacious. As he already owns other properties, the purchase of another residential property in his would have resulted in a higher rate of stamp duty being charged. The duty would have been 10% rather than the 5% rate.
The suggestion that Farage would spend more time in Clacton because of the house was clearly a ridiculous notion. Busy with his visits to the USA and holidays, Farage has had little opportunity to spend time in Clacton or the House of Commons doing his job. According to the member’s register of interests he has spent over 800 hours of paid work -which is anything apart from what he was elected to do.
Reactions to this news has mostly been incredulity that he has a girlfriend.