Farage’s speech disrupted by hecklers

Nigel Farage’s keynote speech at the Reform UK party conference was interrupted numerous times by protesters.

Two women stood up in the conference hall at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre and held a banner reading “Reform works for billionaires”.

They were booed by audience members who shouted “out” and television footage showed a woman being carried out by security.

Mr Farage laughed during the disruption and said “We’ve got a screamer. Oh dear.”

Addressing the conference hall, the Reform leader said “that poor young girl, she looked like she was going to do herself an injury”, before adding “boring, boring, boring”.

(AFP/Getty)

Maryam Zakir-Hussain4 September 2026 22:00

Editorial: Andy Burnham must take his chance to bury Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, has tried to brush aside the allegation that two of his aides conspired to get around the law against foreign donations, calling the covert filming by Channel 4 reporters “entrapment”.

Mr Farage has spoken dismissively of “a couple of contractors” making an “error of judgement”, which simply will not wash. James Orr and Dan Jukes have been suspended, but are “not coming back” according to Lee Anderson, the chair of Reform.

Both were close advisers to the Reform leader. Mr Jukes in particular had been in effect Mr Farage’s press secretary and principal adviser for more than a decade, one of Mr Farage’s “lifers”.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain4 September 2026 21:30

Watch: Farage interrupted by ‘screamer’ at Reform conferenceFarage interrupted by ‘screamer’ at Reform conference

Maryam Zakir-Hussain4 September 2026 21:00

Labour demands Reform’s Richard Tice investigated over alleged undeclared donation

Labour has called on Parliament’s sleaze watchdog to investigate Reform UK’s Richard Tice over allegations of another unregistered donation to the party.

Labour chair Bridget Phillipson has written to Daniel Greenberg, Parliament’s commissioner for standards, to ask him to probe “a possible failure… to register a financial or material benefit within the period required” strict House of Commons rules.

In her letter Ms Phillipson points to reports that Fiona Cottrell, the mother of Nigel Farage’s close associate George Cottrell, who has been dubbed “posh George”, transferred more than £1m to Britain Means Business Ltd, a company owned and controlled by Mr Tice, after receiving $1.4 million from her son.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain4 September 2026 20:30

Cambridge University probe into James Orr after Reform donations sting

The University of Cambridge has launched a probe into associate professor James Orr after he was alleged to have breached political donation rules while working for Reform UK.

A spokesperson for Cambridge University, where Mr Orr is an associate professor of Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge’s Faculty of Divinity, said: “The university is looking into these matters.”

Maryam Zakir-Hussain4 September 2026 20:10

Reform reported to police over claims of funding rules breach in undercover sting

The purported donors were in fact undercover reporters from investigative group Verbatim posing as an American financier and his UK-based son, who reportedly suggested they would be prepared to donate up to £500,000 to the party.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain4 September 2026 19:47

Reform UK won’t be distracted by ‘campaign of attacks”, Farage tells conference

Nigel Farage vowed not to be “distracted” by “a highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks”.

He told the Reform UK party conference: “We have been the subject of a highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks.

“In a sense, it’s not surprising. If you think about it, two parties have dominated British politics for over 100 years.

“And around them is a whole ecosystem of membership of the House of Lords, the issuance of government contracts, heads of quangos, and so much else, a whole ecosystem around the century-old two-party system.

“And we come along and threaten that. 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.”

(Getty)

Maryam Zakir-Hussain4 September 2026 19:30

Farage threatens get rid of the House of Lords

Nigel Farage has threatened to get rid of the House of Lords in a referendum if the upper chamber of Parliament does not pass a Reform government’s legislation.

The Reform leader made the proposal while speaking about his plans to call a “national emergency”, should his party win the next election.

Mr Farage told his party conference in Birmingham: “Parliament will sit, if necessary, for 24 hours a day, for six days a week until we pass the necessary legislation, and our policies will be explicit in our offering document to the British people.

“I expect the House of Lords to honour that, as they’ve done with the Salisbury Convention for over a century. But if they don’t, well we will present them with an idea.

“It’s not a new one, it has been used before. We’ll appoint hundreds of new peers so that we have a majority in the House of Lords.

“And if that proves difficult, we will hold a referendum on the current composition of the House of Lords, and they would be swept away by a British public appalled by them.”

Maryam Zakir-Hussain4 September 2026 19:12

Lib Dems ask Parliament’s watchdog to investigate alleged donations to Reform

The Liberal Democrats have asked Parliament’s standards watchdog to investigate allegations Nigel Farage’s aides sought to conceal impermissible donations to Reform UK.

Lisa Smart, the Lib Dems’ Cabinet Office spokeswoman, said in a letter to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg that a report by Channel 4 News “demonstrated the lengths that close aides of Nigel Farage went to in order to facilitate an impermissible donation and to conceal it”.

She said: “Nigel Farage met personally with the undercover reporters, whom he understood to be prospective American donors, and was subsequently recorded praising the effectiveness of private polling that this funding had paid for.

“The activities, shown on camera, represent clear breaches of the law – specifically section 56 and 61 of PPERA (Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act).”

Maryam Zakir-Hussain4 September 2026 18:42

Watch: Farage interrupted by ‘screamer’ at Reform conferenceFarage interrupted by ‘screamer’ at Reform conference

Maryam Zakir-Hussain4 September 2026 18:27