Farage leaned heavily into his image as an outsider candidate in the speech, characterizing himself as a political target who, if reelected in the surprise by-election, would be a thorn in the side of the Labour government and left-wing press.

“This will be a people vs. the establishment by-election,” the Reform leader continued. “It’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the establishment, to frankly to tell them where to go. And that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election.”

The Parliament standards commissioner opened an investigation into Farage this week after a Sunday Times report produced evidence that the MP received a slew of benefits from convicted “dark money” launderer George Cottrell.

Cottrell has been seen alongside Farage for years despite having “no formal role” in Reform U.K. The outlet asserted that Cottrell has provided staff, accommodations, and security services for Farage.

Farage confirmed on Tuesday that “another standards investigation is underway” and lamented how “standards are now being used as a political tool.”

Farage was already under investigation by the commissioner for a 5 million pound, or $6.70 million, gift from Thailand-based crypto tycoon Christopher Harborne, which he said was a no-strings-attached gift he intended to use as a fund for his personal protection. That lump sum from Harborne has become a stumbling block for Reform U.K., with Farage routinely growing angry or dismissive when questioned on the nature of the gift.

Newly elected members of Parliament are required to submit extensive disclosures outlining relevant gifts and donations made for their political activities in the year leading up to their victory. Farage contends that both gifts were of a personal nature and therefore outside the purview of the standards commission.

“Let me be absolutely clear, after the furor and the media pile-on, well, not just the media, the other political parties too — let me be absolutely clear — I have done nothing wrong,” he said at the Tuesday event. “I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money. And you know, for the first two years of being an MP, my personal MP expenses are zero — not, of course, that you’ll read about that in mainstream media.”

NIGEL FARAGE SQUIRMS IN SPOTLIGHT AS BRITISH PRESS HOUNDS HIM OVER £5M ‘GIFT’ FROM CRYPTO BILLIONAIRE

The by-election also dovetails with Farage’s demands for Labour to hold a general election following the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The premier is expected to be unilaterally replaced by Makerfield MP and former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. The Labour superstar, if elected as the leader of the party following Starmer’s exit, will automatically whisk himself into high office.

While Reform U.K. currently sits in a comfortable first place in public opinion polling, Farage himself is not nearly as popular. A recent survey from polling firm Ipsos found that 30% of British voters would prefer Burnham as the next prime minister, while just 16% said Farage was their pick.

Farage’s move is unusual but not unprecedented. In 2008, then Conservative MP and shadow Home Secretary David Davis resigned from his seat following a parliamentary vote on a counterterrorism bill which would extend the maximum detention of terrorist suspects from 28 to 42 days. He intended to spark a wide public debate on the subject, but none of the other major parties stood candidates, and Davis’s stunt was dismissed as egotistical and a waste of money. In 2016, then Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith resigned his Richmond seat in protest to his government’s proposal for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. Running in the by-election as an independent, however, backfired, and he lost his seat to the Liberal Democrats, thanks in part to his support for Brexit.