Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform UK party, says he is standing down to fight again for his place in parliament in what he called ‌a war against an establishment bent on discrediting him with accusations about his finances.

After weeks accusations he had failed to properly declare millions of pounds in gifts from wealthy ‌backers, Farage used a televised announcement on Tuesday (local time) to vent his anger over what he described as a “pile on” by Britain’s liberal elite.

“I’ve decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions,” he said, announcing his decision to step down only to trigger an election in the southern English seat where he was elected to parliament for the first time in 2024.

“This will be a people versus the establishment byelection” he said. “It is a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment.”

In recent weeks, Farage, 62, had become visibly angry at questions about his personal finances and those of his party, which ​has led in almost every opinion poll for more than a year.

He is being investigated by parliament’s standards watchdog over a £5 million ($A9.6 million) gift from a billionaire crypto investor who his critics say was not properly disclosed. It has yet to rule on the case.

Farage also said the standards watchdog had opened another investigation after a report of separate donations from a former aide who was once convicted in the US for wire fraud.

He has denied any impropriety in his financial dealings, but after staging almost weekly press conferences, his appearances in public had recently ⁠dwindled. He has also complained about journalists harassing his family.

In a ‌speech when the ​usually composed Farage stumbled on some of his words, he said he had needed additional funds from supporters to pay for personal security and that he had given up a ​well-paid job decades ‌ago to fight for the Brexit cause he believed in.

It was a long way from his usual media appearances, where the man who is often ​credited with forcing a referendum on whether Britain should stay in the European Union revelled in castigating his opponents with often colourful language.

He said the “final straw” was when he accused journalists of intruding into his daughter’s privacy despite her never being engaged in politics. He said Sky News had contacted his family.

Sky ​News has denied the accusations.

“We approached the property off-camera on a single occasion, identified ​ourselves, and the occupant chose not to engage,” it said.

Farage said he would not tolerate intimidation of ‌his family.

“So yes, you can ask, am I angry? Well I’ve never been angrier in my life,” he said, and repeated “I’ve done nothing wrong”.

It is a risky move but one that has characterised Farage’s political career. He had supposedly retired from politics when he stood down as leader of one anti-EU party in 2016, shortly after the Brexit vote, only to return two years later.

By framing the so-called byelection as the people versus the establishment, he can test out a strategy before a national election due in 2029 to paint the governing ​Labour Party and Conservatives as the elite, with him and Reform as the underdog, a source close to Reform said on condition of anonymity.

“I will fight to ​win,” he said.

“I will fight to continue the political ⁠revolution that Reform has started.”