Nigel Farage has indicated that Reform UK's internal probe into a donations controversy will absolve two key aides and that legal actions will be launched against journalists involved.
Report release 'imminent'
Hinting that he had already seen the report and knew its conclusions, Farage said its release was “imminent”.
“It’s been done. It’ll be out in public very soon and I think some of your co-conspirators might find themselves with one or two legal challenges,” he told a Channel 4 journalist among reporters who questioned the Reform leader today.
Doncaster rally
Farage was speaking ahead of the rally in Doncaster – taking place now – which is one of a number the party has scheduled over coming weeks.
Suspensions and investigation
Reform was rocked on the eve of the Reform UK party conference after some of his team were filmed appearing to plot to avoid electoral laws on foreign donations in an undercover investigation broadcast by Channel 4 News. Soon after it was shown, the two aides most directly implicated – James Orr and Dan Jukes – were suspended by the party.
A group of investigative journalists called Verbatim, founded by the Centre for Climate Reporting, posed as a potential Reform supporter and his wealthy American father, an impermissible donor, who paid for £30,000 of polling commissioned by Reform and which benefited the party.
In Channel 4 News' investigation, footage shows that the fake UK-based supporter also had conversations with Orr, Reform UK's head of policy, who talked about commissioning polling that would be paid for by the US-based father.
In footage of another meeting, Jukes, a senior adviser to Farage, appeared to suggest to the fake UK-based supporter that his US-based father could make a substantial donation by channelling it through the son.
Jukes has denied “any wrongdoing” while Orr has said he would cooperate with the party’s internal investigation “fully”.
The Metropolitan police is carrying out a criminal investigation into Reform UK over allegations it broke foreign funding laws.
