Insight: Will dodgy donation allegations overshadow Reform’s conference?

This was supposed to be Reform UK’s ‘serious’ conference, where the party painted itself as a government in waiting and set out its vision for its first 100 days in power.

No glittery jumpsuits nor renditions of ‘I’m an insomniac’ by Andrea Jenkyns. (There are some people wandering around dressed as knights, but they are in the minority.) But on the eve of the big day, a Channel 4 investigation into dodgy donations caused those plans to go awry – forcing Nigel Farage to suspend two of his top team and announce an internal investigation.

Farage is expected to announce in his speech this afternoon that he will immediately declare a ‘national emergency’ if he becomes Prime Minister. But before any of that, he has to confront a more personally pressing emergency within his own ranks: the Channel 4 investigation exposed key Reform UK figures as being more than happy to accept donations from non-UK donors, something that breaks electoral law.

In the film, senior aide Dan Jukes and Reform’s head of policy James Orr were shown to have arranged funding from a US company for three polls commissioned by the party, costing £32,500. However, the public was not informed that Reform UK had itself commissioned the polling or who had funded it. The sting also revealed that senior party figures were open to accepting a further £500,000 gift from the undercover reporters from an independent group, Verbatim, posing as a wealthy American and his son. The plan was for the American’s son, who was UK-based, to make the payment – but this arrangement would be illegal.

Donations from legally impermissible donors must be reported to the Electoral Commission within 30 days, with the political party being required to return the money to the donor in this time, while legitimate donations totalling more than £11,180 in a calendar year must also be declared to the Electoral Commission. None of the payments relating to the polling appears to have been flagged by Reform to the Electoral Commission.

The polls were conducted by JL Partners, and received coverage in the Telegraph. The polling company said that while there was ‘no concern about the accuracy of our work, the report did reveal weaknesses in our procedures’ and it will be conducting an internal review. A spokesperson for the Telegraph Media Group said the paper believes it has been ‘misled’, and is reviewing its relationship with the polling firm: ‘As a matter of precaution, we have suspended the relevant articles while The British Polling Council conducts a review.’ A spokesperson for the British Polling Council added: ‘From the information provided to us by Channel 4 News, it appears there may have been deliberate breaches of this rule.’

Farage had thanked the would-be donors and described the plans as being ‘all above board’ – all at a time when he was under scrutiny for other concerns relating to his party’s finances. Questions had already been raised over a £5m gift from Thai-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne and revelations that Farage had received unspecified funding from a convicted fraudster, George Cottrell. The Reform leader had been subject to two parliamentary probes over his finances, which were paused when he triggered a by-election by quitting as an MP. He has since been re-elected, so the investigations have resumed.

Initially, the party claimed that it had been ‘the target of a hoax’ – but it has since moved to suspend both Jukes and Orr, after senior figures gathered in Birmingham on Thursday evening to figure out what steps to take.

A Reform UK spokesperson said it has launched an investigation into the claims made by the Channel 4 documentary, adding of Jukes and Orr: “Both individuals involved have stepped down from their respective positions pending the outcome of the investigation. The party believes it is important that the investigation is allowed to proceed independently and without prejudice. No further comment will be made while the investigation is ongoing.”

There appears to be split opinions about whether Jukes and Orr will return to the fold, with Reform MP Lee Anderson suggesting this morning that they are out for good, while the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice hinted the arrangement was likely to be temporary.

Farage will be hoping that even if the media is focusing on these latest financial stories, his members won’t be. Certainly, some of those in attendance have already brushed off the investigation, suggesting other political parties have faced similar challenges.

He will instead attempt to throw the conversation forward, outlining his plans for the first 100 days of a Reform government and who else he wants in his future cabinet. The Reform leader will also welcome Jordan Bardella, president of France’s National Rally, who could become the country’s next prime minister, to the main stage this afternoon in a bid to show that he can build a populist ‘entente cordiale’ to tackle immigration.

But for all Farage’s grand plans, these latest financial revelations combined with internal infighting in recent months (between Tory defectors and original Reform members) show that despite Reform UK’s success in the polls, there remains serious trouble in paradise.