Reform UK reported to police over alleged foreign donation rules breach

Reform UK faces police reports from the Liberal Democrats and Labour after Channel 4 footage allegedly showed party aides discussing ways to accept illegal foreign funding.

Reform UK faces police reports over alleged breach of foreign donation rules

Reform UK has been reported to the Metropolitan Police following allegations it accepted funding from an overseas company in breach of electoral law, The Independent reports. Channel 4 News broadcast undercover footage purportedly showing senior party figures facilitating a £32,500 payment from a US firm to cover the cost of three polls commissioned by the party earlier this year.

The undercover reporters were from investigative group Verbatim, posing as an American financier and his UK-based son. The pair reportedly indicated they were willing to donate up to £500,000 to Nigel Farage's party.

Key figures step down as party launches internal inquiry

Reform's head of policy James Orr and long-serving Farage aide Dan Jukes have both resigned following the allegations. The party has launched its own investigation into the matter.

In footage broadcast by Channel 4, Mr Jukes is recorded meeting a reporter posing as the British-based son of a wealthy American businessman outside a pub in Westminster. When the reporter raises concerns that his father would not legally be able to donate directly to the party, Mr Jukes responds: "You do realise that you can do it?" — appearing to suggest the money could be donated in the UK-based son's name while the funds originated from his American father.

"Actually that does strike me as a solution," Mr Jukes added, before appearing to indicate the mechanism had been used on previous occasions. "That's one of the ways in which we do it," he is recorded as saying.

Farage filmed at lunch in his own constituency

Channel 4 also broadcast footage from a lunch held in Clacton — Mr Farage's own constituency — in which both the reporter posing as the UK-based son and an actor playing his American father were present alongside Mr Jukes and Farage himself.

The reporter is heard telling Farage he had been in discussions with both Mr Jukes and Mr Orr about the donation for some time. Farage responds that "it's all above board." The reporter then outlines the proposed arrangement: "I'll be the registered donor. But then dad will send the money to me, and then as soon as that's done and all those conversations are had the money is available." Farage is heard replying: "Thank you. Well, both of you. Thank you."

Under UK law, foreign companies are not a permissible source of political funding, including payments for research or polling. Accepting donations from them can constitute a criminal offence.

Liberal Democrats write to Met; Labour also set to report

The Liberal Democrats have written to both the Metropolitan Police and the Electoral Commission. Labour also intends to report the matter to the police, and the Green Party has called for a formal investigation. The Met confirmed it is assessing the reports it has received.

In her letter to the force's special enquiry team, Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokesperson Lisa Smart wrote: "I am writing to report to your unit a potential serious breach of electoral law, involving the acceptance and concealment of a donation from an impermissible donor. The breach raises alarming questions about whether there has been a wider complacency toward foreign interference by the individuals involved."

Smart argued that Orr's role in facilitating the £32,500 payment would constitute a breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act, and that the funding appeared to have been "channelled into political spending on behalf of Reform UK" in a manner "apparently structured so as to avoid the payment being recorded and reported as a donation to the Electoral Commission" — a breach, she said, of section 61 of the Act.

Party denies wrongdoing; Orr says no money reached Reform

Reform UK described itself as the victim of a hoax. A party spokesperson said: "Reform UK has been the target of a hoax perpetuated by foreign-funded, climate change activists posing as would-be party donors. The party denies any wrongdoing. Reform UK has a robust vetting process for prospective donors approved by the Electoral Commission."

Mr Orr, who is at the centre of the allegations, stated in a video posted to X that "no money reached Reform UK at all." He described the polling as "a public poll arranged by an independent person paying an independent pollster," adding that the results were published immediately for the general public.

Allegations arrive at a difficult moment for Reform

The story broke as Reform members gathered for the party's annual conference in Birmingham, with Farage scheduled to deliver a speech on Friday afternoon.

Farage is already under separate investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog over a £5 million donation received from crypto billionaire Chris Harborne just before he became an MP — a donation he failed to declare. Farage has consistently maintained the money was a private gift for personal security and not political in nature. Questions have also been raised about gifts and donations linked to his long-term associate George Cottrell, known as Posh George, and Cottrell's mother.

The latest allegations compound pressure on a party that has been sliding in the polls, averaging around 23 per cent — roughly ten points below its position a year ago — and trailing Labour in most surveys. A More in Common poll published earlier this week also placed Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives ahead of Reform.

Farage had sought to draw a line under recent difficulties with his by-election victory in Clacton last month, but the undercover sting operation is reported to have taken place while he was campaigning there.

Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson said: "This scandal goes right to the top of Reform UK. Nigel Farage needs to urgently prove today that his top team haven't broken the law and secretly plotted to undermine our democracy."

Source: The Independent