Sept. 9 (UPI) — British police are investigating a far-right political party accused of breaking campaign finance laws by agreeing to accept money from foreign donors.
London’s Metropolitan Police said they are investigating Nigel Farage’s ReformUK after undercover reporters from the BBC’s Channel 4 visited with the party’s former director of policy James Orr and Farage’s then-Chief of Staff Dan Jukes.
A reporter said he was the British son of a wealthy American who wanted to funnel money through him to get around campaign finance laws. The Reform aides arranged for the American money to fund three Reform-commissioned polls that were unknowingly reported as independent in the British press.
Those polls helped drive narratives before May’s elections. They made it seem like Reform is on the rise and a threat to the Labour Party and the center-right Conservative Party.
A ReformUK spokesperson told CNN the party “denies any wrongdoing and will cooperate fully with the investigation.”
Jukes and Orr later arranged for the reporter and an actor posing as his father to meet Farage and talk about a much larger donation. Farage is an ally of President Donald Trump. Jukes and Orr have both stepped down since the report.
Farage told the BBC he “frankly wasn’t listening” to the men talk about the donation. Channel 4 News said the payment was never made. Farage said the aides’ comments in the videos were “loose pub talk including a couple of boasts that simply were not true.”
“Following a broadcast by Channel 4 News on Thursday, Sept. 3, the Met received a number of reports relating to donations and polling involving a political party,” a spokesperson for London’s Metropolitan Police told CNN. “Detectives have assessed the information provided and determined that there are potential offenses requiring investigation.”
The Met said it will merge the investigation with one already underway into other donations to the party.
The Guardian reported in April that in 2024, Farage had accepted a $6.8 million donation from a Thai-based billionaire, and he didn’t disclose it.
“Farage needs to wake up and realise the buck stops with him,” the BBC reported Labour Party Chair Bridget Phillipson said. “Reform’s failure to take responsibility for their actions shows just how unfit they are for office.”
“Every Reform MP urgently needs to state whether they or their campaigns have benefited from any foreign money,” said Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart said.
