Nigel Farage has hit back following an undercover investigation which appeared to uncover Reform UK taking illicit foreign donations.
An undercover investigation led by Channel 4, Verbatim and a group of investigative journalists showed how Reform UK were willing to find ways to bend the law on party funding to secure foreign investment.
In the wake of the report, a number of political parties and figures have called on Reform and Farage to face a criminal investigation.
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As per reports, the Met Police have said they are assessing the allegations.
Now, Nigel Farage has broken his silence on the report, claiming his party has been the victim of “entrapment”.
He told LBC: “The party has broken no laws, not taken dodgy money or anything like that. It’s a clear case of entrapment, and they got a couple of our contractors to say things that perhaps should not have been said. They have been removed this morning. I’m not happy about it.
“An independent third party commissioned a poll. It was helpful to Reform but we had nothing to do with it. There’s nothing illegal about it. Polling can be paid for by anybody providing it was put into the public domain.
“There’s no question of illegality – I have a strong KC’s opinion on that. It was an independent third party. That is nothing. Polls are funded by overseas people every single week.
“I had no idea. The first time I saw was it was on the front page of The Times. The issue is when they talked about putting money that might have come from America, that’s why. That clearly can’t be done under electoral law. It didn’t happen so no laws have been broken. We are going to investigate it. On the face of it, they said things that shouldn’t have been said.
“I asked is this all above board, is it legal? I meet people all the time. We as a party have done nothing wrong. A few contractors have said things that shouldn’t have been said.
“Labour can say what they like, but no, I promise you, the polling is not even an issue. Entrapped conversations don’t look good and that’s why we’ve taken the action we have. We have not taken any illegal money of any kind. This is a massive sting operation.
“These are not elected officials, but someone who has worked with me for many years, but never involved in fundraising. That’s why we’ve done what we’ve done. We will not be distracted by it.
“We threaten the whole establishment ecosystem which has been in power for 100 years. They don’t want a new political party, a new set of faces coming in and taking over. No illegal transaction has occurred.”
The investigation has led to two men at the centre of the undercover report, Dan Jukes (a close aide to Farage) and James Orr (the party’s head of policy) stepping down from their roles within the party.
Chair of Reform UK Lee Anderson told the outlet that the party had told Jukes and Orr to step down and that there was “no chance” of them coming back.
Orr said in a statement: “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.”
Last night, a statement from Reform UK which said that they were “the target of a hoax perpetuated by foreign-funded, climate change activists posing as would-be party donors,” and that “the party denies any wrongdoing.”
It added: “The hoaxers are ‘Verbatim Investigations’; 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 ‘videos [that] appear to be substantially edited, creating an incomplete record of the conversation.'”
The investigation
The operation saw Louis Wilson from Verbatim go undercover, posing as the UK-based son of a wealthy American businessman wanting to donate to Reform UK.
The investigation focused on Dan Jukes, Nigel Farage’s Chief of Staff, and James Orr, Reform’s head of policy.
Footage shows Wilson meeting with the two men who openly admitted on camera ways to circumvent the law.
Jukes was captured saying: “Those little clandestine projects are so valuable”.
While Orr said: “The reality is we could easily get away with it”.
The investigation pivoted around a supposedly independent poll which ending up on the front page of The Telegraph which was in fact commissioned by Reform and funded with money from the undercover journalists posing as the wealthy American businessman and his son.
The public was not told that Reform UK had commissioned the polls and would be arranging for an “off the book” backer to fund them with the three polls costing £32,500 all in.
In another undercover meeting with Orr, the Reform man told Wilson, “I won’t breathe a word of this to anybody,” after saying he knew a way of getting an invoice to him.
In the report, Wilson says he then paid £18,000 from an American bank account.
Full video on investigation on Channel 4 News:
He then went on to say that he was curious to know if Farage knew about the arrangement.
The report cuts to undercover footage of Orr saying that “Nigel doesn’t know and won’t know, it’s the kind of thing he’d rather not know about.”
The climax to the report comes as Wilson sits down with Farage himself and an actor posing as his American businessman father as they discuss the donation.
After the actor says he was “thrilled to pick up the tab” for the commissioned polls, Farage responds, “yes, that was great”.
He added: “It worked, boom. For in fact a relatively modest investment. Bang for buck.”
The report then moves on to Wilson saying he had spoken to Jukes and Orr about an “illicit” donation of £500,000 to the party.
At the dinner table, it’s explained to Farage that his ‘dad’ would send the money to Wilson who would act as the registered donor in the UK.
An Instagram post by Verbatim says that they understand Jukes and Orr deny the allegations in full.
Meanwhile The Telegraph said it believed it had been “misled” and that it was reviewing its relationship with the polling company.
Speaking to Channel 4, Bob Posner, a lawyer and former Chief Executive of the UK Electoral Commission, said there should now be a criminal investigation as “serious criminal offences” may have been committed.