Nigel Farage, the firebrand leader of the U.K.’s Reform party, downplayed his involvement in a donation scandal following an undercover investigation where a journalist posed as a wealthy American’s son who wanted to donate to the party.
Farage told CBS News’ international partner BBC News on Saturday he “frankly wasn’t listening” during a conversation where he was filmed alongside senior aides, who have since stepped down, appearing to discuss how to arrange donations.
British law regards a permissible donor to a U.K. political party as either a U.K.-registered voter or a company. In the scenario that unfolds in the undercover investigation, the son is a permissible donor, and the father is not.
Dan Jukes speaks to Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage in Clacton-on-Sea, Britain, July 2, 2024.
Reuters/Hollie Adams
In an interview with the BBC, Farage said he was in the middle of campaigning at the time and not aware of all the details from the supposed would-be donor.
“The money could come from all over the world, you know. Income could have came from all over the world into a family office based in London. I know electoral law, I know donation law better than anybody,” he told the BBC.
The leader of the Reform party added the two aides filmed participating in the conversation “have never been involved in fundraising before and they shouldn’t have been involved directly in fundraising.”
In a statement directly following the report aired on Britain’s Channel 4 news on Thursday, a spokesperson for the party said it was launching an internal probe. Two Reform party officials, James Orr and Dan Jukes, have left their positions pending the outcome of that investigation, the spokesperson said.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, show off his socks during the Reform UK National Conference, at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images
Jukes is widely regarded as Farage’s right-hand man, with an “innate sense of his boss’ instinct,” according to CBS News’ partner network BBC News. Orr, an influential figure in the British national conservative movement, served as Reform’s head of policy until his resignation. Both men denied any wrongdoing.
In an interview with a London radio station early Friday, Farage insisted the party had broken no laws.
“The party has not taken any dodgy money or anything like that whatsoever,” Farage told LBC Radio. “However, it is a clear case of entrapment, and they worked at it for a very long time, and they got a couple of our contractors to say things that perhaps should not have been said. And as a result of that, they have been removed this morning and yeah, you know, I’m not happy about it.”
Jukes released a statement to BBC News calling the report “entrapment over a prolonged period of nearly a year by foreign-funded climate change activists.”
“I totally deny any wrongdoing but have stepped back from politics in order to clear my name,” Jukes said.
In a statement to Sky News, Orr said, “I have agreed to step down from my current role at Reform UK pending the outcome of the party’s internal investigation into the conduct of the program, with which I will cooperate fully.”
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