James Orr and Dan Jukes, aides to Nigel Farage, stepped down after an investigation by Channel 4 Unlock Democracy, which campaigns for democratic reform, says the Reform UK undercover donations investigation shows the need for a cap on the amount people can donate to political parties. Tom Brake, its chief executive (and a former Lib Dem MP), said: Until a donations cap is in place, the temptation will always be there to circumvent the rules when pursuing large donors. This latest allegation must be thoroughly investigated to confirm no laws have been broken. Farage insisted Reform UK had not broken any laws – but he admitted aides had said things they “perhaps should not have been said” and conceded he was “not happy” about this.
He said: The party has broken no laws. The party has not taken any dodgy money or anything like that whatsoever. However, it is a clear case of entrapment, and they worked at it for a very, very long time, and they got a couple of our contractors to say things that perhaps should not have been said. He rejected the claim that the footage of him discussing a £500,000 donation with fake father-and-son donors (see 9am) showed that he was aware of a plan to circumvent electoral law.
He said: If you listen to what I said, I said, is this all above board? Is this all legal? I’ve been told it was a global family office based in London. And by the way, I was in the middle of a Clacton by-election.
I turned up to see people. I knew nothing about them whatsoever. I meet people all the time. He claimed the three polls featured in the investigation were not commissioned by Reform UK.
He said: Whilst the poll benefited Reform, it wasn’t commissioned by Reform. It had nothing to do with Reform. It was an independent third party that did it. So that’s nothing.
That’s nothing. Polls are funded by overseas people every single week. Every single week. He suggested Labour and the Tories had a worse record on donations because they in effect sold peerages.
He said: The Labour Party and the Conservative Party have been selling peerages for years in return for political donations. Political donations leading to big government contracts. In the world of political funding, all sorts of things have been done over decades that are wrong. He said the party had suspended two aides because their remarks “don’t look good”.
He said: I promise you, the polling is not even an issue. Nothing. The party has not done anything wrong, but entrapped conversations don’t look good, and that’s why we’ve taken the action we have.
