The Farage foreign donor scandal has plunged Reform UK‘s annual conference into crisis, with Nigel Farage telling the BBC he ‘frankly wasn’t even listening’ during a filmed conversation in which a scheme to channel US money to the party was apparently discussed.
Farage’s former chief of staff Dan Jukes and ex-head of policy James Orr have both been removed from their posts after an undercover investigation by Verbatim Investigations and Channel 4 News recorded them discussing how to route £500,000 from an American donor to Reform UK via his UK-based son. The pair also allegedly asked a fake company to pay for polling.
Jukes has denied wrongdoing. Orr has told Sky News he will co-operate fully with the party’s internal investigation.
Farage says he was not involved in fundraising talks
Speaking in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Farage said he had been canvassing during the Clacton by-election when the conversation took place. ‘I am not a compliance officer. I was in the middle of canvassing in the Clacton by-election. I turn up. I frankly wasn’t even listening,’ he said.
He added that he had been told the donor operated ‘a global family office based in London’, suggesting the funds could have originated legitimately. ‘The money could have come from Singapore,’ he said. ‘Income could have came from all over the world into a family office based in London. I know electoral law. I know donation law better than anybody.’
Under electoral law, donors to UK political parties must be a UK registered voter or a company registered in the UK. Money cannot be routed from abroad through a British resident. The proposed £500,000 donation was never made, as it formed part of an undercover sting operation.
Farage said Jukes and Orr ‘should have done basic checks’ and that ‘nobody should be brought to me, unless they’ve been vetted’. He categorically denied that Reform had ever taken money from a foreign entity by channelling it through a UK donor.
Metropolitan Police inquiry folds into existing Reform investigation
The row has prompted calls from Labour and the Liberal Democrats for a Metropolitan Police investigation. The force said it is assessing whether to investigate the latest allegations. According to BBC, any such inquiry is set to be folded into an investigation that has already been under way into other donations to the party.
Reuters reported that London’s police said in July they were investigating Reform for potential offences under laws governing donations to political parties. Those offences could include concealment of the source of funding or giving false information to the treasurer of a party. The fresh allegations from the Channel 4 film now sit alongside that existing probe.
Political opponents are demanding that Farage himself be investigated and held to account. Jukes and Orr have stood down pending the outcome of the party’s internal inquiry.
Family pressure and conference disruption
Beyond the legal questions, Farage disclosed that his family are pressing him to quit politics. ‘For the first time’ he said he does not have their support. ‘They would rather I packed it up and walked away,’ he told the BBC, adding he had not considered standing down but that ‘when you’ve got your family begging you to, it’s not easy’.
The controversy has overshadowed a conference that Reform had intended to use to outline its plans for government. Giant posters reading ‘Reform: the first 100 days’ lined the exhibition hall in Birmingham. The party had planned to highlight a deal with Jordan Bardella on small boats, a pledge to cut income tax and proposals on education, welfare and planning, with the next general election scheduled for 2029.
Farage also condemned Saturday’s demonstration at the Port of Dover, in which hundreds of masked protesters caused travel disruption. He said he ‘deplored’ anyone wearing masks or balaclavas at public demonstrations: ‘You should not be allowed to be masked up, balaclava-ed up and go out and protest on the streets of our country. It is wrong at every level.’
Senior figures inside the party have privately conceded the Farage foreign donor scandal matters and could cause a ‘certain vital percentage of voters’ to ask questions, with one source describing the party as having been ‘totally blindsided’ by the revelations. The Metropolitan Police’s assessment of whether to formally open a new investigation is ongoing.
