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Foreign donations sting
Britain’s Reform UK said two senior aides to leader Nigel Farage stepped down on Friday after a Channel 4 undercover investigation alleged the party broke electoral law by arranging for a foreign donor to pay for political polling.
“a proposal for Reform to receive a 500,000-pound ($675,000) donation”
The Channel 4 report said footage showed Reform officials Dan Jukes and James Orr meeting undercover reporters posing as prospective Reform backers from the United States, including a proposal for Reform to receive a 500,000-pound donation.
Channel 4 said the undercover team from Verbatim discussed plans for a US donor to fund opinion polls for Reform UK rather than donating directly, and Verbatim reported Reform officials arranged for the US donor to pay more than 30,000 pounds to fund three opinion polls without disclosing the source.
The investigation was broadcast as Reform held its annual party conference in Birmingham, central England, and the party announced an internal probe into the latest case after the allegations were aired.
The UK Electoral Commission spokesperson said political parties must report all “impermissible donations” exceeding 500 pounds and all “permissible donations” exceeding 11,180 pounds, while also saying information about attempts to evade controls is for police to consider.
Farage denies, Labour acts
Reform initially denied wrongdoing and called the allegations a hoax, but later said Orr and Jukes had stepped down pending the outcome of its internal investigation.
Farage told LBC that “they got a couple of our contractors to say things that perhaps should not have been said,” while insisting “The party has broken no laws, the party has not taken any dodgy money or anything like that whatsoever.”
The governing Labour Party wrote to the police asking them to investigate possible criminal offences, and the Metropolitan Police said it was aware of the allegations and would assess any information provided to them.
Reform’s head of policy James Orr said in a video on X that “There’s absolutely no way this could amount to a benefit or donation in kind at all,” and he argued the polls were not internal party polling.
The Liberal Democrats’ Cabinet Office spokesperson Lisa Smart said the case involved “the acceptance and concealment of a donation from an impermissible donor,” as the Electoral Commission said it was considering information and in touch with the Met Police.
What’s at stake next
The Channel 4 investigation described a scheme in which a US company paid for three opinion polls commissioned by Reform, with Channel 4 and Verbatim saying the polling payments were not disclosed to the Electoral Commission within required deadlines.
“said there should now be a criminal investigation as “serious criminal offences” may have been committed”
Channel 4 said the Electoral Commission makes clear that political party donations include funding that helps a party meet costs and expenses, such as payments for studies and research, and that donations from an impermissible donor must be reported within 30 days and returned within that time.
Bob Posner, a lawyer and former Chief Executive of the UK Electoral Commission, said there should now be a criminal investigation because “serious criminal offences” may have been committed.
The new accusations cast a shadow over Reform’s annual conference in Birmingham, where thousands of supporters flocked to listen to Farage and where the party wanted to show its readiness to take power in the next elections not due until 2029 but potentially earlier.
Reuters reported that the allegations could prompt voters to question whether Reform was ready for government, quoting Keiran Pedley, director of UK politics at the pollster Ipsos, saying the issue was “cutting through.”