Nigel Farage’s partner faces company strike off as gin brand collapses with debts

Nigel Farage’s partner Laure Ferrari is facing questions after documents filed at Companies House revealed her company, which sold the Reform UK leader’s own brand of gin, is being struck off with debts of £11,000.

Ferrari, 46, is listed as the sole director and shareholder of Baxter Laois Limited, the Southend-based firm behind Farage Gin. The drink, launched in 2022, came in red, white, and blue bottles and sold for around £40 each. Despite heavy promotion on Farage’s website, the link to the gin quietly disappeared last autumn, according to the Mirror.

Accounts for the company up to October 2024 showed it had little more than £1,000 in assets while owing more than ten times that amount. Documents filed last month confirmed that the accountancy firm registered at Baxter Laois’s headquarters has now applied to strike the business from the register.

The collapse follows weeks of scrutiny over Farage and Ferrari’s finances. Questions have been raised after it emerged that she bought his £900,000 home in Clacton mortgage-free, saving more than £44,000 in stamp duty.

Farage insisted he had not contributed financially. “I haven’t lent money to anybody. I didn’t give her money. She comes from a very successful French family and she can afford it herself. It’s convenient, it works, and she loves it,” he said.

Farage, who has been in a relationship with Ferrari since 2017, brushed off concerns about the company’s looming closure. “No instructions to close the company have been sent. Will examine tomorrow with Companies House. Spoken to the accountant too. He is none the wiser,” he told reporters when asked about the strike-off application.

When pressed on how much he or Ferrari had made from gin sales, Farage snapped: “I only respond to those who act in good faith. You do not.”

The issue has continued to dog the Reform UK chief, with both him and deputy leader Richard Tice facing repeated questions about why Farage claimed he had bought the Clacton property himself when records show it was Ferrari’s purchase.

The gin brand, manufactured in Cornwall but marketed through Baxter Laois, was part of a short-lived commercial venture that appeared to trade on Farage’s name and image. Yet since he became an MP last July, there has been no record of him declaring any income from the product.

The company’s troubles add another headache for the party leader, who is already under pressure over financial transparency and property ownership. Though the sums involved in the gin venture are relatively small, the optics of another failed business connected to his name have only fuelled political opponents.

For Ferrari, the financial hit may not be significant, but the timing could hardly be worse for her partner, who continues to face scrutiny on multiple fronts as Reform UK tries to present itself as a credible force in British politics.