Politics · Sun Belt Post
Nigel Farage has said Reform UK is ready to tackle the small boats crisis, as he attempts to move his party on from a row about donations. The Reform leader denied wrongdoing throughout the party’s three-day conference after a report by Channel 4 News showed senior Reform figures discussing how to disguise donations from foreign sources. Accepting donations from a foreign company, including donations in kind such as polling, could constitute a criminal offence.
The party has been reported to the police. Farage said he expected more investigations after the conference was overshadowed by a row about party finances. Two senior figures—Dan Jukes and James Orr—have been suspended pending an internal investigation.
Farage admitted the scandal would worry some voters. Footage from Channel 4’s investigation revealed undercover reporters posing as an American donor and his son, who paid for polling allegedly commissioned by Reform and sought to channel money to the party. Farage claimed he knew donation law better than anyone, blaming Jukes and Orr for failing to check potential donors.
He also said he wasn’t listening during a meeting with undercover reporters in Clacton, suggesting the money could have come from a London-based family office in Singapore. Farage defended his party against allegations of breaking political donation laws, writing in *The Sun* that his party’s pact with France’s National Rally would end unauthorized Channel crossings. He proposed declaring a national emergency and having Parliament work nonstop to implement his priorities.
His poll ratings have dropped amid scrutiny of Reform’s finances and a boycotted Clacton by-election. In his delayed conference speech, disrupted by hecklers, Farage vowed to stop small boats entering the UK, calling for immediate action.
Source: The Independent
