{"id":1185424,"date":"2026-09-04T05:02:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T05:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1185424\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T05:02:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T05:02:49","slug":"reform-uk-reported-to-police-after-channel-4-foreign-donation-sting-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1185424\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform UK reported to police after Channel 4 ‘foreign donation’ sting investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Reform<\/p>\n

Reform UK has been reported to the police over allegations it breached political donation rules by having polling paid for by an overseas company.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy\/Getty\/Reform<\/p>\n

Reform UK has been reported to the police over allegations it breached political donation rules by having polling paid for by an overseas company.<\/p>\n

Nigel Farage\u2019s party took funding from a US firm for three polls it commissioned earlier this year, costing \u00a332,500, Channel 4 News reported. <\/p>\n

The purported donors were in fact undercover reporters from investigative group Verbatim posing as an American financier and his UK-based son.<\/p>\n

Foreign companies are not a permissible source of funding for parties, including for payments for studies and research, under electoral law.<\/p>\n

The Liberal Democrats have written to the Metropolitan Police and the Electoral Commission.<\/p>\n

Read More: <\/strong>Farage vows seven-day Parliament to \u2018fix\u2019 Britain if Reform wins<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Read More: <\/strong>Burnham accepted more than \u00a3350,000 of donations and freebies in run-up to becoming PM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Farage's<\/p>\n

Farage’s party is facing more allegations refarding its donations.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Labour also intends to report the matter to the police, it is understood, and the Greens have called for a probe.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the Met\u2019s special enquiry team, Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart wrote: \u201cI am writing to report to your unit a potential serious breach of electoral law, involving the acceptance and concealment of a donation from an impermissible donor. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe breach raises alarming questions about whether there has been a wider complacency toward foreign interference by the individuals involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Smart said that James Orr, a senior adviser to Mr Farage, facilitating the \u00a332,500 donation from an impermissible donor would mark a breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act.<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cThe funding appears to have been channelled into political spending on behalf of Reform UK, and therefore a donation in kind, in a manner apparently structured so as to avoid the payment being recorded and reported as a donation to the Electoral Commission. This would constitute a clear breach of section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reform, which is holding its party conference in Birmingham, denies any wrongdoing. <\/p>\n

The revelations by Channel 4 and Verbatim come amid ongoing scrutiny on funding both Mr Farage and his party have received.<\/p>\n

\"Lib<\/p>\n

Lib Dem Lisa Smart reported Mr Farage’s party to the police.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

The Reform leader faces a parliamentary investigation into whether he should have declared a \u00a35 million gift from the crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne<\/a> given shortly before he was first elected to the Commons in 2024.<\/p>\n

Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said: \u201cThis scandal goes right to the top of Reform UK. Nigel Farage needs to urgently prove today that his top team hasn\u2019t broken the law and secretly plotted to undermine our democracy. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just Farage\u2019s secret \u00a35 million \u2018gift\u2019. Time and again he and his mates think the rules don\u2019t apply to them. The sleaze and scandal now engulfing him and his party isn\u2019t going away \u2013 it\u2019s getting worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to stop the deflections and desperate excuses. Farage and Reform must co-operate with the authorities to establish the truth and prove just how deep this scandal goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: \u201cThese very serious claims should be fully investigated by the Electoral Commission and the police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are millions of reasons why Nigel Farage is happy to take money from billionaires, climate science deniers and secret foreign backers, and not one of them is because he has any interest in improving people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee Dame Emily Thornberry said: \u201cIt is a criminal offence to knowingly receive a donation for a political party from a foreigner with no connection to the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has been caught on camera by Channel 4 looks to be very serious indeed. I expect the police to investigate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must protect our democracy from foreign interference and keep all dodgy money out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to the allegations, a Reform spokesperson said: “Reform UK has a robust vetting process for prospective donors approved by the Electoral Commission.<\/p>\n

“We also have written KC legal opinion showing no laws have been broken.<\/p>\n

“A private individual paid for polling to a private company, and the private company gave it to national newspapers. This would only need to be declared if it were internal polling.”<\/p>\n

\"ONE<\/p>\n

Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Dame Emily Thornberry said that she expects the police to investigate.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

“The hoaxers are \u2018Verbatim Investigations\u2019; a new company, incorporated in July 2026 in an attempt to mask their true identity: the Center for Climate Reporting (CCR). The methods of its founder, Lawrence Carter, have previously been rebuked by members of the United States Congress for \u201cvideos [that] appear to be substantially edited, creating an incomplete record of the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The group has partnered with the publicly-owned Channel 4 in an attempt to mislead the public about the party\u2019s donations and vetting processes.<\/p>\n

“The same group, led by Greenpeace\u2019s Lawrence Carter and far-left activist Louis Wilson, were busted attempting a similar hoax in the U.S. at the end of last year. This is yet another establishment attack on Reform UK.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google Reform UK has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1185425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-1185424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-northern-ireland","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117211026540080671","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1185424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1185425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1185424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1185424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1185424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}