'Like a son' The convicted fraudster at Farage's side

It's an enigma at the heart of Nigel Farage's general election campaign: why has a 30-year-old businessman, self-confessed high-stakes gambler and convicted fraudster flown in from a glamorous Balkan resort to act as his unpaid aide?

- Emine Sinmaz, Dan Sabbagh & Rowena Mason

George Cottrell was at Farage's side when the Reform UK leader got milkshaked on the campaign trail in Clacton, and was on a private helicopter flight with him from Ashfield in Nottinghamshire to London. Cottrell was there at a London hotel, ear glued to his phone, as Farage hosted a press conference. He also pitched up in Merthyr Tydfil for the party's manifesto launch in Wales.

Reform says Cottrell is just one of many party volunteers on the campaign trail, but his extravagant lifestyle and past controversies raise some awkward questions for Farage. Those who have followed the election campaign in the Essex coastal town of Clacton, where Farage is making his eighth attempt to become an MP, describe Cottrell as integral to the operation - frequently physically close to the leader and his security detail.

One photograph from earlier in the campaign shows Cottrell in a beer garden in Clacton with Farage.

Both men are in similar poses: smoking and on the phone.

The British locations are a far cry from Cottrell's usual lifestyle.

He is said to drive a £300,000 Lamborghini, to stay in an £8m townhouse when in London and to have taken Westminster friends including Farage out to his home in Montenegro by private plane from London's Biggin Hill airport.

Cottrell, who was born in Britain, moved to the tiny Balkan country some time after 2017 when he was convicted in the US and then spent eight months in an American jail after being accused of offering money-laundering services on the dark web. He served time for a single count of wire fraud after 20 other charges were dropped as part of a plea deal.

He is now a familiar figure in the luxurious coastal resort of Porto Montenegro, where he mostly lives, with its gleaming marina a haven for the super-rich and their shiny mega-yachts, upmarket restaurants and designer shops such as Dior and Rolex.