Reform UK has published a 27-page internal report clearing two of its advisers of breaking the law in a donations row that erupted last month, a move that has drawn sharp criticism and raised questions about the party's accountability.
The report, released this week, exonerates Nigel Farage's long-time media adviser Dan Jukes and policy adviser James Orr. It was led by Reform's own legal secretary Adam Richardson and general secretary Tom Waterhouse, with no external oversight.
What the report concluded
The investigation found that the advisers did not breach the law over discussions about a US company funding three opinion polls Reform had commissioned at a cost of £32,500, and a plan to channel a £500,000 donation from a supposed American financier through his UK-based son.
Channel 4 News and Verbatim had filmed Jukes and Orr discussing these matters. Orr was recorded saying the party could 'easily get away with it'. Both men have denied any wrongdoing, and the police are still investigating the case.
The report argued the polls were not a problem because Jukes was a 'contractor' rather than someone at the heart of the party, despite Farage having described him as 'like a son'. It also brushed aside Jukes's filmed comments about other foreign donors giving money through their children, saying he had invented the whole thing so as not to derail the conversation – described as 'foolish, loose talk'.
Farage's defence and the party's wider troubles
Farage, who was filmed at the Clacton lunch where Jukes discussed the £500,000 plan, says he 'wasn't even listening'. He told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg he is not a compliance officer, while insisting he knows electoral law 'better than anybody'.
Reform's central pitch is that they are different to the Westminster 'uniparty', yet closing ranks and declaring themselves clean is more establishment than any conceivable establishment move. Farage has also said he wants to sue the reporters behind the investigation.
Reaction and fallout
Since Andy Burnham took over, polls have begun putting Labour back in front, and YouGov found six in 10 Britons feel Reform is untrustworthy. Even an anonymous senior Reform figure privately admitted the scandal left the party looking 'a bit like a pirate ship'.
The bigger danger for the party isn't anger but mockery, with the report being seen as a party marking its own homework and awarding itself an A*.
