Reform UK deputy leader faces inquiry over Israel visit

Richard Tice, deputy leader of Britain's Reform UK party, faces a parliamentary inquiry over whether he should have verbally declared a September 2025 Israel trip sponsored by Reform Friends of Israel before a June 22 debate on pro-Israel influence. The inquiry opened July 28. Tice rejects the complaint as antisemitic.

Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Britain's right-wing Reform UK party, is under investigation by Parliament's standards watchdog over whether he should have verbally declared a September 2025 trip to Israel before speaking in a House of Commons debate on pro-Israel influence. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards opened the inquiry on July 28, though it was not made public until Monday. The trip, sponsored by Reform Friends of Israel, was already recorded in the Register of Members' Financial Interests. Tice rejected the complaint, arguing it stems from his opposition to antisemitic claims about Israeli influence. He wrote on X that he is being investigated for standing against antisemitism. The debate followed a petition with over 100,000 signatures calling for an inquiry into 'pro-Israel influence.' Tice called the petition's premise 'antisemitic in its very motivation and at its core.' He also welcomed Keir Starmer's efforts against antisemitism in the Labour Party. Tice alleged the complaint came from an 'antisemitic anti-Israel lobby group,' but the commissioner does not disclose complainants' identities.