Farage insists Reform broke no laws amid new foreign donation row

Christopher McKeon, Abbie Llewelyn, Harry Taylor and David Lynch, Press Association Political Staff

Nigel Farage sought to defend himself over allegations Reform had broken laws on political donations as he addressed his party conference.

In a speech delayed by a “security alert” and interrupted four times by hecklers, Mr Farage vowed not to be “distracted” from his agenda by what he called a “highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks”.

The annual gathering at Birmingham’s NEC has been overshadowed by yet more allegations about party funding after Channel 4 broadcast footage that appeared to show senior Reform figures discussing how to disguise donations from foreign donors.

The footage was part of an investigation by undercover group Verbatim, who posed as an American donor and his son who had paid for polling allegedly commissioned by Reform and were seeking to channel money to Reform.

Accepting donations from a foreign company, including donations in kind such as polling, could constitute a criminal offence, and the party has been reported to the police.

The Liberal Democrats have also asked Parliament’s standards watchdog to investigate the claims.

Dan Jukes, a long-serving Farage aide, and James Orr, the party’s head of policy, have stood down pending an internal investigation of their appearance in the footage.

In one clip, Mr Jukes appeared to suggest that the party had previously disguised donations from foreign sources.

Mr Jukes denies wrongdoing and accused the undercover reporters involved in the report of “entrapment”.

Over the course of Friday, Mr Farage repeatedly insisted that the party had broken no laws and dismissed Mr Jukes’s comments as “loose pub talk” that included “a couple of boasts that simply were not true”.

In his speech to the party faithful, he said Reform had been “the subject of a highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks” by an “ecosystem” that had been built up around Labour and the Conservatives over the past century.

He said: “They were never going to come out with a tray of gin and tonics, I promise you.

“But I promise you, we will not be distracted by any of this. We are absolutely determined in what we’re doing.”

Mr Farage added: “Reform has broken no law. We take compliance extremely seriously.

“And ask yourself, why is all of this happening? Anyone got a clue why it’s happening? Because they’re scared of us. That’s why it’s happening.”

Prior to Mr Farage’s speech, an address by his deputy Richard Tice had been interrupted by a banner planted by Greenpeace UK reading: “Collect £5 million, burn the planet.”

Heckling

And Mr Farage’s own speech was disrupted four times by protesters heckling him over climate change.

The annual conference has been billed as setting out plans for the first 100 days of a future Reform government.

Mr Farage used his speech to pledge to declare a “national emergency” and make Parliament sit round-the-clock to pass legislation that will deliver his priorities.

He promised to clear away obstacles to achieving the party’s aims, threatening to appoint hundreds of new peers or hold a referendum on the “current composition of the House of Lords” if the upper house did not vote for policies in Reform’s manifesto.

And he suggested the judiciary could be another “obstacle” to his plans, and hinted at a desire to change how senior judges are appointed.

The conference is due to continue on Saturday, with Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick expected to set out plans to cut taxes on working people.

‘Sleaze’

Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said: “Nigel Farage is up to his neck in sleaze and scandal. His desperate deflection tactics and complete failure to take personal responsibility for his actions has thrown his conference into chaos and his party into crisis.

“If Farage can’t get his own house in order, he simply can’t be trusted to address the issues the country faces.”

A spokesperson for the Green Party said: “Like a stopped clock, Nigel Farage is right: there is a national emergency. But it’s not the one he claims or would ever be willing to do anything about.

“This summer’s extreme heat and wildfires, and the prospect of flash floods to come, prove that the world, not just Britain, is facing a climate emergency and we need to act now.

“At the same time, the cost-of-living crisis is squeezing family finances more and more all while Reform laugh their way through their champagne breakfasts.”

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