Reform internal inquiry says party did not break law over donations sting

An internal investigation by Reform UK has said the party did not breach electoral law when senior officials were recorded by an undercover journalist discussing a potential way to secure foreign donations to the party.

Reform leader Nigel Farage’s senior aide Dan Jukes and the party’s head of policy James Orr both stood down pending the outcome of the inquiry.

The investigation concluded that neither of the men did anything that constitutes a breach of the law.

The Metropolitan Police is carrying out a separate criminal investigation into Reform UK, over allegations it broke foreign funding laws.

It came after undercover filming, carried out by Verbatim Investigations and broadcast by Channel 4 News, showed the two aides apparently suggesting a way around electoral law to secure foreign party donations, one of which would have totalled £500,000.

The BBC has been told Reform UK will wait until the conclusion of the police investigation before deciding the futures of Jukes and Orr.

In the Channel 4 News report, an undercover investigator posing as the son of an American donor is recorded raising a concern that his father would not be able to directly donate to the party within the law.

Electoral law states that to be a permissible donor to a UK political party you must be a UK registered voter, or a company registered in the UK.

Jukes appears to suggest that the donation could be in the UK-based son’s name, although the money would have come from his American father.

Elsewhere, Orr suggests that the father could pay for opinion polling to support one of Reform’s campaigns.

Channel 4 News says Reform commissioned three polls costing £32,500 in total and that the public was not told who commissioned or funded them. Reform says it did not commission or pay for the polls.

The party’s investigation says invoices for the polling were sent to and paid for by a US company, which was set up by Verbatim.

Farage and Jukes were also filmed at a lunch in Clacton where it is suggested the US donor, who was being played by an actor, gives £500,000 to Reform through his son.

Farage previously told the BBC he “frankly wasn’t listening” to the discussion about the potential donation.