Reform UK reported to police over alleged illegal US donation

Reform UK has been reported to the Metropolitan Police after the party was accused of breaking political donation rules during an undercover sting operation.

According to Channel 4 News, Nigel Farage’s party took funding from a US company to commission three supposedly independent polls at £32,500 earlier this year.

Reform’s head of policy, James Orr, and Farage aide Dan Jukes, who organised the donation, were not aware that the donors were actually undercover reporters from the investigative group Verbatim, funded by journalists from the Centre for Climate Reporting.

Reporters, posing as an American father and his British son “William Lockwood,” also suggested donating £500,000 to Reform UK.

Legal Context

British electoral law states that political donations can only be made by someone eligible to vote in the UK or a UK-registered company. The reporters offered to work around those rules by sending the American father’s money to the British son before donating it to Reform.

Party Response

Reform has denied any wrongdoing and called the operation a “hoax.”

A party spokesperson said: “Reform UK has been the target of a hoax perpetuated by foreign-funded, climate change activists posing as would-be party donors. The party denies any wrongdoing.

“Reform UK has a robust vetting process for prospective donors approved by the Electoral Commission.”

Political Reactions

The Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson Lisa Smart has written to the Metropolitan Police and the Electoral Commission over the incident. Labour intends to report the matter to the police as well, while the Green Party has called for an investigation.

Smart said in a letter to the Met: “I am writing to report to your unit a potential serious breach of electoral law involving the acceptance and concealment of a donation from an impermissible donor.

“The breach raises alarming questions about whether there has been a wider complacency toward foreign interference by the individuals involved.”

Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson said: “This scandal goes right to the top of Reform UK. Nigel Farage needs to urgently prove today that his top team haven’t broken the law and secretly plotted to undermine our democracy.

“It’s not just Farage’s secret £5 million ‘gift.’ Time and again he and his mates think the rules don’t apply to them. The sleaze and scandal now engulfing him and his party isn’t going away – it’s getting worse.

“It’s time to stop the deflections and desperate excuses. Farage and Reform must co-operate with the authorities to establish the truth and prove just how deep this scandal goes.”

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: “These very serious claims should be fully investigated by the Electoral Commission and the police.

“There are millions of reasons why Nigel Farage is happy to take money from billionaires, climate science deniers and secret foreign backers, and not one of them is because he has any interest in improving people’s lives.”

She claimed senior Farage adviser James Orr may have breached the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act by facilitating the £32,500 donation.

Orr’s Response

Orr said “no money reached Reform UK at all,” adding in a video on X: “It was a public poll arranged by an independent person paying an independent pollster and those polls were published immediately for the general public.”

Official Statements

The Met says it is assessing the reports. A spokesperson said: “We’re aware of media reporting on Thursday 3 September involving political party donations and an alleged breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 relating to polling.

“We will assess this matter and any information provided to us.”

An Electoral Commission spokesperson said: “The law requires political parties to report all permissible donations they accept with a value over £11,180 and all impermissible donations over £500.

“Information about any potential attempt to evade the controls on donations is for the police to consider.”

Background

The report from Channel 4 News was published on the eve of Reform’s annual conference in Birmingham, where the party was attempting to reset its image.

Farage spent the summer fighting the Clacton by-election against novelty candidate Count Binface. He triggered the contest himself after a parliamentary probe was launched into a £5 million donation he failed to declare from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne once he became an MP. Farage insists the money was not a political donation and was gifted to him before.