Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has admitted that an undercover investigation into his party’s approach to foreign donations “looks bad,” partially softening his earlier, more dismissive stance.
Farage appeared on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg show, where he acknowledged the optics of the scandal while insisting the party had never actually breached electoral law by accepting overseas funding.
“This looks bad, as does the sale of peerages, as does government contracts for donations,” Farage told the programme. “We are not the first people to be involved in a row over donations.”
When pressed to categorically rule out that Reform had ever accepted foreign money, Farage stated: “I can […] never happened.”
The row stems from a Channel 4 undercover investigation that filmed senior Reform figures apparently agreeing to accept a donation from a foreign benefactor through an intermediary.
Farage admitted that comments made by close aide Dan Jukes and head of policy James Orr were “injudicious at best,” and both men have since been suspended pending an internal party investigation.
The Reform leader had previously described remarks made by Jukes and Orr in the documentary as “loose pub talk,” as he attempted to stop the controversy from dominating his party’s conference in Birmingham.
Farage was filmed meeting with journalists posing as a wealthy American Reform backer and his son, who told the party leader they had been in discussions about making a donation to the party.
Farage told the BBC: “I am not a compliance officer. I was in the middle of canvassing in the Clacton byelection. I turn up. I frankly wasn’t even listening.”
He added: “I was told there was a global family office based in London, so the money could have come from Singapore. The money could come from all over the world, you know. Income could have come from all over the world into a family office based in London. I know electoral law. I know donation law better than anybody.”
Calls for a formal police investigation have come from across the political spectrum, adding significant pressure to Farage and his party leadership.
Conservative shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith told Times Radio that the matter warranted law enforcement scrutiny, saying: “Kemi [Badenoch] said [the investigation] warrants grounds for a police investigation, so that should take place.”
Griffith went further, challenging Farage’s suggestion that he bore no personal responsibility for the conduct of those around him at the meeting.
“And as a leader, you cannot absolve yourself on matters that are so important. You can’t just dismiss that when it comes to electoral funding,” Griffith said.
Labour business secretary Jonathan Reynolds also appeared on the Kuenssberg programme and issued a pointed warning about the rule of law applying to all parties equally.
Reynolds stated: “We have rules in this country about how our democracy works and everyone has to stick to them. And if you’re not willing to abide with them, if it’s a law, it’s a matter for the police. And clearly this goes absolutely to the top of Reform.”