Two Reform UK officials quit as fresh donations scandal overshadows party conference

Reform UK's annual conference in Birmingham was overshadowed on Friday by a fresh donations scandal that led two senior party officials to resign shortly before leader Nigel Farage's keynote address.

The resignations followed an investigation aired by Channel 4 News, which showed two party figures arranging for a US company to pay more than £30,000 for three opinion polls commissioned by Reform. The footage also captured discussions about securing a £500,000 foreign donation, which is banned under UK electoral law. Undercover investigators from the group Verbatim, posing as wealthy US-based donors with British ties, spent a year engaging with Reform officials, a process that culminated in a lunch with Farage, during which he thanked the supposed donors.

Reform said policy chief James Orr and Farage's longtime aide Dan Jukes had stepped down pending an internal investigation. The ruling Labour party said it had reported the allegations to police, citing possible breaches involving both the polling payments and the proposed larger donation.

Farage, 62, is already under parliamentary scrutiny over a separate £5 million donation received in 2024 from crypto entrepreneur Christopher Harborne, which he denies involved any wrongdoing. Addressing the conference, Farage dismissed the sting as a prolonged entrapment exercise and insisted the party had not accepted any illegal funds, while acknowledging that some officials' recorded comments were ill-judged.

Despite the controversy, the conference proceeded with a focus on immigration policy, with a Reform spokesperson pledging to deploy the Royal Navy against migrant boats and to remove foreign nationals who entered the country illegally. French far-right leader Jordan Bardella also addressed the conference, and the two parties signed a memorandum on cooperating over immigration issues.