Top Reform officials filmed allegedly plotting to break law on foreign donations

Reform UK has suspended two senior party figures after they were filmed appearing to try and skirt electoral law to secure a foreign donation of £500,000 ($680,000) for the party.

Party leader Nigel Farage's senior aide Dan Jukes and Reform's head of policy James Orr, an associate professor at the University of Cambridge, stepped down from their roles on Friday morning pending the outcome of an internal party investigation.

This comes on the first full day of Reform's annual party conference in Birmingham.

A Channel 4 report on Thursday night featured undercover filming by a group called Verbatim Investigations, which showed Orr suggesting to an undercover reporter posing as a British donor that the donor's American father could give him the money to pay for an £18,000 opinion poll to help Reform's campaign.

UK electoral law allows donations to political parties only from individuals on the UK electoral register and from UK‑registered companies that operate in the UK.

This meant the American donor - an actor for Verbatim - would not be a permissible donor. 

The Channel 4 report also included footage from a lunch with Farage, his aide Jukes, the undercover reporter and the actor posing as his American father. 

In the footage, Farage appears to be celebrating the opinion poll, which showed high support for Reform, calling it amazing and saying it provided "bang for buck". He also said: "It worked. Boom."

The four are also seen discussing a potential donation of £500,000 to the party.

"I'll be the registered donor," the son says in the footage. "But then dad will send the money to me, and then as soon as that's done and all those conversations are had, the money is available."

Farage responds: "Thank you. Well, both of you. Thank you."

Police probe launched

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have reported Reform UK to the police over the documentary.

The Electoral Commission said it was "considering all relevant information" and was in touch with the Metropolitan police, which said on Thursday night it would assess the matter.

A Reform spokesperson said on Friday morning: "Reform UK has launched an investigation following the broadcast of a Channel 4 News programme. Both individuals involved have stepped down from their respective positions pending the outcome of the investigation.

"The party believes it is important that the investigation is allowed to proceed independently and without prejudice. No further comment will be made while the investigation is ongoing."

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Richard Tice, the party's deputy leader, told BBC Radio 4 on Friday morning that Reform had a legal opinion from a King's Counsel (KC) saying no rules were broken and accused Channel 4 of entrapment.

Farage, meanwhile, insisted on UK radio station LBC that no rules had been broken.

This comes as the Reform leader faces a parliamentary investigation into a £5m gift he received before becoming an MP in 2024, which he did not disclose. Farage denies all wrongdoing.

Scrutiny over Reform's ties with foreign actors has also increased in the past few months.

Middle East Eye has reported on the increasingly close relationship between the anti-immigration party and the United Arab Emirates.

Farage went on a trip to Abu Dhabi last December, paid for by the Emirati government, and has met multiple Emirati ministers, including the foreign minister.

It was reported in April 2025 that Reform was looking to raise funds from wealthy foreign donors in low-tax countries including Monaco, Switzerland and the UAE.

Emirati diplomats are reportedly set to attend the Reform conference on Friday alongside diplomats from several other countries, including the United States, Israel and India.

The UAE and Reform share an opposition to political Islam, an agenda Abu Dhabi has pursued across the Middle East since the Arab Spring - and increasingly in Europe and the US as well.