Nigel Farage insisted he "can't be bought" as he closed Reform UK's party conference in Birmingham, but the event was overshadowed by a Channel 4 News sting suggesting his closest aides were willing to break political donation laws.
The headlines from the conference were meant to focus on Farage declaring a national emergency upon entering No 10. Instead, he was dealing with a crisis that made his party look like a "dodgy, third rate clown show," according to the political sketch.
Sting and suspensions
Channel 4 News undercover footage showed two Reform members – James Orr, a Cambridge associate professor, and Dan Jukes, Farage's trusted aide for more than a decade – apparently agreeing to accept money from foreign donors. The party has suspended both men.
Richard Tice and Lee Anderson were left to handle the initial fallout. Tice claimed it was an establishment plot run by leftwing eco activists, while Anderson insisted Orr and Jukes had been "out of line" and suspended. When asked who was leading the investigation, Anderson replied: "I don't know because the investigation hasn't started."
Farage's defence
At a lunchtime press conference, Farage called the sting a "hoax," claiming no laws had been broken and no money had been taken. However, Reform had allegedly accepted £35,000 to pay for an opinion poll, and the film suggested they would have accepted £500,000 if it had been genuine.
Farage described the meeting with the undercover journalists in Clacton as "just some jack-the-laddery" and "pub talk," insisting he had only ever been in Clacton once in his life.
Conference chaos
The conference ran an hour late before it started, with Jeremy Kyle filling in. He interviewed a punter who said all woke people should be hung. The guest speaker was Jordan Bardella, president of France's National Rally party, who praised the Brits for standing up to Hitler – a comment seen as rich given his party's history.
Farage's closing speech, delivered after tacky smoke and pyrotechnic effects, included a video declaring "I can't be bought." He promised to change the world in 100 days and sack any ministers who failed. He made just one reference to the crisis: "The party has done nothing wrong."
