That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and the UK politics live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
Here is a brief round-up of the day’s main news stories:
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed that the allegations broadcast by Channel 4 that his party breached political donation rules have been made because “they’re scared of us”. Addressing Reform delegates at his party conference in Birmingham, he said: “Reform has broken no law. We take compliance extremely seriously. And ask yourself, why is all of this happening? Anyone got a clue why it’s happening? Because they’re scared of us. That’s why it’s happening.”
Farage said Reform UK will stop the small boats by declaring a national emergency, forcing parliament to sit 24 hours a day, six days a week, until its legislation is enforced. If needed, Reform UK will call a referendum on the composition of the House of Lords, he said.
But his big day at conference was overshadowed by the undercover report about an apparent Reform UK plot to evade election donations rules.
The polling firm at the centre of the allegations is being investigated by two industry bodies. JL Partners, which is run by former Conservative aides, has been accused of breaking transparency rules by failing to declare that three separate polls had been commissioned by the party.
Reform UK has suspended two senior officials after they were filmed in an undercover investigation appearing to plot to get around electoral laws on foreign donations. In a blow to Farage hours before his conference speech, the party said it had launched an investigation into the actions of James Orr, the party’s head of policy, and Dan Jukes, a senior aide to Farage, after the broadcast by Channel 4 News.
Earlier today, Farage insisted Reform UK had not broken any laws – but he admitted aides had said things they “perhaps should not have been said” and conceded he was “not happy” about this. He said: “The party has broken no laws. The party has not taken any dodgy money or anything like that whatsoever.”
Kemi Badenoch called for the police and Electoral Commission to investigate allegations of electoral law breaches by Reform UK . “I thought those revelations were extraordinary,” the Tory leader told reporters during a visit to West Sussex, saying she had watched the undercover footage by Verbatim and aired by Channel 4 twice.
The new claims against Reform UK will be assessed by the Met’s special inquiry team. Detectives are expected to contact Channel 4 to see if journalists will voluntarily hand over material which led to the latest allegations and any relevant unaired footage. So far, all they are aware of was the TV report first broadcast on Thursday.
The University of Cambridge has said it is “looking into these matters” after associate professor James Orr was alleged to have breached political donation rules. Orr stepped down as Reform UK’s head of policy after claims he arranged to have polling paid for by an overseas company – an impermissible donor under electoral law.
A pact between Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the president of France’s main far-right party on returning migrants who attempt to cross the English channel in small boats has been dismissed by Labour as “a meaningless document packed with daft and dangerous ideas.” Farage sought to hail the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) as a “landmark” moment but a Labour spokesperson said: “Far from being a serious plan, this is a meaningless document packed with daft and dangerous ideas, signed by an increasingly disgraced Reform leader and an opposition politician. It is nothing more than pointless posturing.”
Reform UK will declare national emergency to stop boats in first 100 days
Farage says Reform UK will stop the small boats by declaring a national emergency, forcing parliament to sit 24 hours a day, six days a week, until its legislation is enforced.
He is now threatening peers in the House of Lords, saying he will pack the upper chamber with hundreds of new peers to push Reform UK’s plans through.
If needed, Reform UK will call a referendum on the composition of the House of Lords, he says.
He’s now threatening the civil service, saying they will be replaced if they do not comply with the policies of a Reform government.
Farage ends by thanking the audience and that’s that.
Nigel Farage said he would not be “distracted” by “a highly coordinated campaign of attacks”.
We have been the subject of a highly coordinated 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.
Farage pledges to Reform UK members he will broaden the party’s expertise in defence, health and other important areas of policy.
He says: “Now we have frontline experience, now we have frontline people speaking for us in the UK: Scotland, Wales, England.
“But we’ve more to do. There are more big jobs to fill, and I’m looking and working on defence, health, and the other areas, and we will get there.
Meanwhile, more protesters have been thrown out of the main hall in separate incidents.
Farage turns his attention to the donations sting today, repeating his rehearsed line “we have experienced a little local difficulty today”.
He describes it as “entrapment” and says it comes as no coincidence that the story has broken on the day of Reform UK’s conference.
Ah, he’s trotting out the “loose pub talk” line again now. He repeats that Reform UK “has broken no law” and “takes compliance extremely seriously”.
Here we go. He invites his supporters to ask themselves “why is all this happening?”. “Because they’re scared of us,” he says.
And in my case, I’ve broken no laws, abused no public money. I haven’t even got a motorhome, believe you me.
I’m accused of non-declaration of a personal gift, a personal gift that might just keep me alive.
But I couldn’t wait forever. I couldn’t wait for six months or a year for this committee to decide. So I said, ‘Right. I tell you what, the voters of Clacton, they can be my judge.’ And the people of Clacton have decided with an emphatic win.
Farage says he believes there will be a general election in spring
Nigel Farage says he still believes there will be a general election in the spring of 2027.
He tells the Reform UK party conference: “I stood on this stage in September 2024, just after our breakthrough general election, and said Starmer’s government wouldn’t go the full term.
“I said very clearly that I believed that financial circumstances would force Labour into a spring 2027 election.
“You know what? I stand by that. I believe there will be an election next spring.
“And I believe there must be a general election because Andy Burnham has no mandate. The messiah without a mandate.”
It’s worth mentioning he has been interrupted by protesters two more times since the last post.
Protester removed from Farage's keynote speech
Well, just minutes into his speech that opened with predictable criticism of Andy Burnham, a protester has interrupted.
“We’ve got a screamer,” says Farage. “Out, out, out,” chant his fans.
And the woman is removed, as Farage jokes he thought she was going to do herself an injury to muted laughter.
After a long delay, Nigel Farage has taken to the Reform UK party conference stage.
The BBC’s Nicholas Watt tweeted earlier that Farage told him the “police won’t allow him on to the conference stage because of a security threat”.
Well, whatever the threat was has apparently been averted because here he is.
Richard Tice said he would resign if he did not cut household energy bills by £250 in Reform UK’s first 100 days in office.
He told the party conference: “I’m going to repeat my pledge to you that in the first 100 days of a Reform government, I will bring the average annual household energy bill down by £250.
“But here’s the key point: I’m prepared to put my money where my mouth is.
“So if I don’t, if I don’t deliver on that key pledge in the first 100 days, I will resign. That’s it.”
Kemi Badenoch has called for the police and Electoral Commission to investigate allegations of electoral law breaches by Reform UK.
“I thought those revelations were extraordinary,” the Tory leader told reporters during a visit to West Sussex, saying she had watched the undercover footage by Verbatim and aired by Channel 4 twice. She said:
Reform clearly believe that the rules don’t apply to them. There’s absolutely no way that I would have that sort of behaviour in the Conservative party.
What I saw on camera looked like illegal activity. I understand that they have been referred to the police. It’s definitely time for a police investigation.
This is just yet another thing on top of Nigel Farage’s fishy £5m which he can’t really explain, the investigation into George Cottrell.
Badenoch said the Electoral Commission should also investigate, adding:
I saw from the video footage – taking it at face value – several breaches.
I was quite shocked that fake polls were being paid for, with the real beneficiary hidden from the newspapers. I think that’s bad for the polling industry. It’s bad for the press. We need transparency about who is commissioning all of these polls.
The University of Cambridge has said it is “looking into these matters” after associate professor James Orr was alleged to have breached political donation rules.
Orr stepped down as Reform UK’s head of policy after claims he arranged to have polling paid for by an overseas company – an impermissible donor under electoral law.
Responding to the report, a Cambridge University spokesperson said:
The University is looking into these matters.
Orr is associate professor of Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge’s Faculty of Divinity.
Claims pollster JL Partners breached industry rules by not disclosing Reform UK commissioned polling it conducted have now been referred to the Market Research Standards Board.
The Market Research Society professional body said in a statement:
MRS is aware of the Channel 4 reporting involving an MRS company partner.
The matter is being referred to the Market Research Standards Board for review in line with its established complaint procedures.
Meanwhile, JL Partners has admitted to a “lapse of judgment” for not “proactively” telling media outlets who was behind polling reportedly commissioned by Reform UK and paid for by a company set up by undercover journalists.
In a lengthy statement following the report, JL Partners said IL Office LLC paid for three pieces of opinion research between January and July this year after the company – which it understood to be the family office of a UK-based philanthropist – was introduced to the pollster by Reform figures.
“As an opinion research firm that conducts extensive polling on current affairs, we maintain good relations with various political parties, both in Britain and abroad and, in that context, sometimes people with a party alignment make suggestions about potential clients who may be interested in commissioning and paying for polling,” the statement continued.
At the Reform UK party conference, Richard Tice has just wrapped up his speech and Nigel Farage is due up next. Although he has been delayed due to “unforseen circumstances”. Make of that what you will.
A pact between Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the president of France’s main far-right party on returning migrants who attempt to cross the English channel in small boats has been dismissed by Labour as “a meaningless document packed with daft and dangerous ideas.”
Farage sought to hail the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) as a “landmark” moment. The document includes what Reform described as a “commitment” by Bardella that a National Rally-led French government would accept the return of illegal migrants which have launched from French shores, entered British territorial waters and were returned to France.
There are doubts about the practicality of the deal, while in a press conference after he addressed the Reform confernce, Bardella said: “This is more a declaration of intentions rather than commitment.”
Far from being a serious plan, this is a meaningless document packed with daft and dangerous ideas, signed by an increasingly disgraced Reform leader and an opposition politician. It is nothing more than pointless posturing.
This latest stunt is yet more desperate deflection from Reform, as questions continue to mount over Nigel Farage’s reported £5m ‘gift’ and the police investigation into the party’s finances. Reform UK is bursting at the seams with sleaze and scandal, and no publicity stunt can distract from the serious questions facing its leader.
The Greens also hit out at Reform’s deepening ties with the National Rally, which is hoping to win the French Presidency next year through the candidacy of Marine Le Pen.
Green party deputy leader, Mothin Ali, said:
By putting Jordan Bardella on its conference stage, Reform is sending a clear and deeply troubling message about who it considers welcome and acceptable in British politics.
Bardella leads a party with a long and deeply troubling history of antisemitism, while he himself has repeatedly used rhetoric that targets Islam and Muslims and demonises immigration as an existential threat.
Richard Tice is now speaking and, during the address, a banner has appeared behind him reading “Collect £5 million, burn the planet”.
The banner, which also depicted Nigel Farage in a top hat and carrying a bag of money, remained visible for several minutes before being taken down.
Addressing the Reform UK party conference today, Sarah Pochin, MP for Runcorn and Helsby, joked about Lord Alli buying clothes for Keir Starmer as she addressed delegates at her party’s conference.
Pochin said: “I suppose that when you become prime minister, simply because your name is not Keir Starmer, the bar is not all that high.
“At least Lord Alli isn’t buying his T-shirts for him. That we know.”
Reform MP Danny Kruger has declined to back Lee Anderson’s claim that two senior aides to Nigel Farage who stepped down amid sleaze allegations are out of the organisation for good.
Interviewed by former Conservative education secretary Michael Gove on Friday, the senior Reform MP said he would not respond to questions about the futures of James Orr and Dan Jukes, describing it as “tittle tattle”.
The party chair and Ashfield MP Lee Anderson said earlier there was “no chance” that Orr and Jukes would return to the party.
But appearing at a Spectator fringe event during the party’s annual conference in Birmingham, Gove asked Kruger: “Was Lee correct?”
Kruger said he would not comment until an internal party investigation into the allegations concludes. He added: “Michael, it is a terrible falling off - the hero of Brexit, the former education secretary reduced to this journalistic tittle tattle.”
“James Orr is a very important influence on the party and a very good friend of mine. But he is not elected, he is there at the behest of the leader.
“There is nothing more to be said until this investigation is concluded. I wish you would not join in with Channel 4 and the Guardian and the rest of them in this frivolity.”
GB News presenter and former Reform UK candidate Matt Goodwin told delegates at the party’s conference that he believes there is one general election left to “save this country”.
He said millions of people feel that there is “a sense that if we don’t change the direction of this country soon, then the country we love will soon be unrecognisable”.
“I believe we only have one general election left to save this country,” he added.
Goodwin added that the Tories have “completely betrayed” the British people by replacing the best and brightest in the country with “drug dealing goat herders”.
He told delegates: “The Tories imported millions of low-wage, low-skilled, poorly educated migrants from radically different cultures outside Europe, including illiterate goat herders from Iraq, who moved to Aberystwyth, who set up a drug dealing ring and terrorised local people by selling crack cocaine and heroin.”
He added that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are “code words for anti-white racism”.
The new claims against Reform UK will be assessed by the Met’s special inquiry team.
It is already investigating earlier claims against Reform over claims donations to the party may have broken electoral law.
Detectives are expected to contact Channel 4 to see if journalists will voluntarily hand over material which led to the latest allegations and any relevant unaired footage. So far, all they are aware of was the TV report first broadcast on Thursday.
Detectives from the Met’s special inquiry team have already interviewed under criminal caution George Cottrell and his mother, Fiona Cottrell.
The interviews are understood to form part of an ongoing investigation into donations to Reform UK before the general election in July 2024.
Both Cottrell, known as “posh George”, and his mother were invited for interview by detectives from the Metropolitan police’s special inquiry team and attended voluntarily.
The British Polling Council (BPC) said “it is clear there have been breaches” of rules governing the industry after JL Partners reportedly did not disclose that Reform UK commissioned polling it had carried out.
Undercover footage recorded by Verbatim and aired by Channel 4 appeared to show JL Partners’ James Johnson admitting to “informal rule bending” by keeping the party’s involvement hidden.
The BPC, an association of polling organisations, said on its website: “Rule 2.1 states that all data and research findings made on the basis of social or political polls conducted in the United Kingdom by member organisations that enter the public domain, must include reference to the client commissioning the survey.
“With respect to the Channel 4 News investigation of polling apparently commissioned by Reform and conducted by JL Partners, it is clear there have been breaches of British Polling Council Rule 2.1.
“According to the programme, this may have been deliberate. We are seeking further information from the BPC member concerned and expect them to make information available after further consideration.
“The Market Research Society has a wider remit than the British Polling Council and we note that the matter is being referred to the Market Research Standards Board. We will await the outcome of that inquiry.”
Well, the Reform UK party conference is currently running a little behind schedule but the afternoon will see more party figures delivering speeches.
So, stay with us for coverage of that if you think you can stomach it.
The order of play includes Sarah Pochin at 3.45pm, Richard Tice at 4pm and then Nigel Farage at 4.20pm.
Farage says he is disappointed to lose his former long-term adviser Dan Jukes amid allegations about Reform UK’s finances.
I don’t like it at all. I’ve worked with Dan very closely for many years, many, many years, and I described it as loose pub talk, and that’s what it was, because what he said simply wasn’t true.
He got put into a position and he should never have said what he did. I believe the investigation will find he should never have said one or two of the things that he said.
Farage has indicated that the body of the first president of France, Napoleon III, could be repatriated to France if he becomes prime minister.
Napoleon III, who was president between 1848 and 1852 and then emperor until 1870, was exiled in the United Kingdom after defeat in the Franco-Prussian war.
He died in 1873 and is buried in St Michael’s Abbey in Farnborough.
Speaking at a press conference alongside French politician and the National Rally president Jordan Bardella, Farage hinted there could be legal difficulties, but added: “If they want him, I think they can have him.”
Farage said he is “annoyed” undercover reporters were able to meet him and said Reform UK needs to professionalise after the Channel 4 story.
Speaking at a press conference, Farage said: “We have not taken an illegal penny in funding, that is important. The loose pub talk, frankly, there was a bit of boasting, a bit of jack-the-lad-dery going on there.
“If it was more serious than that, then I refer you back to the BBC’s question earlier, the names would have been put on to the programme and there would be a hell of a row. They don’t exist. Those donations don’t exist.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is giving a press conference with French National Rally leader Jordan Bardella.
Asked by the BBC’s Chris Mason about the undercover report into an apparent Reform UK plot to evade election donations rules, Farage reads a pre-prepared statement that he says “should cover it for everyone”.
What is more problematic is loose pub talk, including a couple of boasts that simply were not true.
So in the video, when he says we’ve done it with X, we’ve done it with Y – well, the reason Channel 4 haven’t broadcast the names of X and Y is because it isn’t true.
Donations from the names that were mentioned had not occurred, don’t exist on the old comms site, don’t exist in our accounts.
And while I’m aware that our people were pushed and pushed and pushed into saying these things, the comments were injudicious at best.
Neither of these men was authorised to act in that way. Accordingly, they’ve stepped down pending an investigation.
Am I annoyed that these people even got to meet me? Yes I am, it should not have happened.
The two individuals involved are not even part of our fundraising team, so they should have gone through the appropriate channels.
Checks would have been made and they would never, ever have got to sit down at a table with me.
Alleged plotting by senior Reform UK aides for a US donor to fund £32,500 polling commissioned by Reform UK could amount to a criminal offence, a legal expert has suggested.
Legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg said political parties are prohibited from obtaining donations from foreign donors and must declare donations above a threshold of just over £11,000, as well as any impermissible donations such as those not from a British individual or company.
Backing all of that is a criminal offence in the legislation that set up the Electoral Commission. That’s the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000.
And what that says is that a person commits an offence if he knowingly enters into any arrangement which is likely to facilitate, by means of concealment or disguise, the making of donations to a party by anybody other than a permissible donor.
So, in other words, if you do something to enable your party to get money from somebody who is not permitted to pay that to your party, and you do that knowingly, or if you give information to the treasurer, then you are committing a criminal offence.
He also said payment for a political opinion poll for the benefit of a political party “would be arguably a donation in kind” and would need to be registered under electoral law.
Reform UK are pushing a press release out with details of the agreement signed on stage just now, which the party claims contains a commitment that “a National Rally-led French government would accept the return of illegal migrants which have launched from French shores, entered British territorial waters and were returned to France.”
It quotes Nigel Farage saying “This is a momentous agreement and shows that both Reform UK and the National Rally are serious about stopping the illegal migrant invasion, fixing our borders, and putting our own people first.”
Farage and Bardella sign 'Entente Cordiale' agreement over small boats
Nigel Farage says Reform UK and Jordan Bardella ’s National Rally are to begin a new “ Entente Cordiale” . The pair of them are signing a “memorandum of understanding” to end small boats crossing the Channel. Farage says he hopes the two parties will be the next two governments, and the agreement means France will allow the UK to return people, and that something will actually come of it.
Farage describes it as “a historic document that will stop the boats for ever”. Bardella says it is “the beginning of the cooperation.”
Earlier Farage criticised the announcement from Andy Burnham and Emmanuel Macron that extra police would be deployed on beaches to deter small boat crossings, suggesting that 45,000 extra officers would be needed.
France’s next election is in 2027. The Entente Cordiale, famously, was part of the build up to the first world war.
Jordan Bardella has won bouts of warm applause during parts of his speech, notably when talking about flying the British flag high as patriots, and saying that Reform have changed the political debate in the country and will soon “change the face of the United Kingdom”
He finishes “Long live Reform, long live Nigel, long live the United Kingdom, and vive la France!”
He has then invited Nigel Farage on stage, who opens with “Jordan Bardella. And in English! How about that!”
While Jordan Bardella is getting wild applause for promising that if he and his party got into power France would no longer be a route for migrants to reach the UK, my colleague Peter Walker is at a fringe event which feature Nadine Dorries . He has posted to social media some updates, saying:
Nadine Dorries, says the Channel 4 story was “a sting”, and starts talking about how “the establishment” want Farage and Reform to fail. She seems to be hinting there a conspiracy to bring him down. Dorries when challenged says [Dan] Jukes and [James] Orr might not have known the rules and that others in the party would have checked and turned down the money.
Dorries is challenged again and says Dan Jukes is someone who just carried Farage’s bags and “organised the car”. When reminded that Jukes described himself as the future No 10 chief of staff Dorries says: “I think that was Dan getting carried away.”
“Brutal world, politics,” Peter observes.
There is laughter in the room as Jordan Bardella describes the historical relationship between France and its neighbour as “turbulent”, which is somewhat the understatement. He describes, however, “a true friendship” between the two peoples at the most decisive moment of history, which draws warm applause.
Jordan Bardella is up next at the Reform UK conference. He has been the president of the far-right the National Rally (RN) since 2022. He has started trying to win the room over with a tribute to Ann Widdecombe . He describes the audience as “the beating heart of the British people. A people of patriots. A people who love freedom. A people proud of their history. And a people who have decided to take their destiny back into their own hands.”
“What a victory it was,” he says of the Clacton byelection. “The establishment had more or less lined up behind a candidate with a bin on his head”. He suggests Nigel Farage took out the rubbish. The audience has maybe not warmed quite so much to this bit.
Zia Yusuf has gone a little bit Trump-ist here, promising “more change in 100 days than from any previous government in British history”, and everything he is promising is going to be the biggest in history. He is promising to deport every foreign national without a right to stay, every foreign national in prison, and end early prison releases. “If their home countries refuse to take them we will send them to serve their sentences in countries like El Salvador,” he says.
“We will rebuild our economy, re-arm our military, and ensure that Britain can compete in this era of hard power” he says. He says the fate of the country is down to Reform UK.
At the Reform UK conference, Zia Yusuf has attacked Kemi Badenoch as a “con artist”, and also repeated his attack on former defence secretary Ben Wallace over the resettlement of Afghan nationals to the UK. Yusuf previously described Wallace as a “traitor”, and said a Reform UK government would hold an inquiry into the resettlement scheme. He has described the Times and the Telegraph as “client Tory media”. He has then called for applause for the late Ann Widdecombe , who was killed in her home in July.
Zia Yusuf , in the wake of the murder of Henry Nowak , has promised that Reform UK would end the right of Sikhs to carry ceremonial knifes – the kirpan. Sikhs were explicitly provided a statutory defence to carry a kirpan in public in the UK in 1988.
Zia Yusuf is up next, described in the introduction as the nemesis of the “left-wing blob”. I may have put a bit of weight on recently, but I am trying not to take that personally.
A montage of soundbites about immigration and small boats follows, and then Yusuf asks the audience if they are “excited”.
He said he entered politics with the aim of making Nigel Farage prime minister. He said it was met by jeers from the media and political establishment. “It is not a fantasy, it is within our grasp,” he insists.
“We now live in a broken country” he says. He is promising that Farage’s first action will be to order the navy to repel small boats, that people on the boats will be detained by marines, and that anybody who reached the UK’s shores would be returned to the shores they departed from. There is no indication in his speech on how Reform UK expects the French government to cooperate or react to this plan.
At the Reform UK conference Lee Anderson has claimed that Nigel Farage’s re-election in his wholly self-inflicted byelection was an example of the electorate “sticking two fingers” up to the political establishment.
Having wheeled out an anecdote about his days as a miner, he has “joked” that sitting in parliament next to George Galloway and Jeremy Corbyn during a debate on Gaza made him yearn for the mines. He also has a swipe at Diane Abbott.
He has said that “the only man who can save this country is Nigel Farage and we have to take one step behind him”.
“I want my country back and I want to be stood in front of the people’s army when we get to Number 10 and say a massive thank you to all of you”. He finishes by describing the audience as the “conscience” and “saviours” of the country.
This is Martin Belam here with you for the next hour or so
What former CPS elections law chief says about legal implications of Reform UK investigation
Nick Vamos used to be head of special crime at the Crown Prosecution Service, which meant he was in charge of all prosecutions for electoral offences. He is now a partner at the law firm Peters & Peters. He has issued this statement about the legal implications of the undercover investigation into Reform UK.
UK electoral law can be fiendishly complicated but, on this issue at least, the rules are very clear. Only UK-registered voters, companies or other similar entities are permitted to make donations to political parties. A donation can include incurring expenses on behalf of a party, as is alleged to have happened here.
The criminal net is cast very wide: it is against the law for anyone knowingly to do any act in furtherance of an arrangement likely to facilitate an impermissible donation. This would include engaging in discussions to solicit or encourage an impermissible donation, provided the person knew that was what was being proposed.
It is also an offence to mislead a political party about the source of a donation, so the perpetrators of the sting, whatever their intentions, may themselves have broken the law. Each offence carries a maximum sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment.
It is very common for allegations of electoral offences to be reported to the police, especially by political rivals looking to score points. But the police should disregard the motives behind any report and focus on the conduct itself. They are not obliged to investigate every allegation, but will assess the evidence to determine whether a full investigation is justified.
That is all from me for today. Martin Belam is taking over now.
Lee Anderson , the Reform UK chair, is speaking now. Within the first few minutes, he is slagging off Sadiq Khan, suggesting the Labour mayor of London did not deserve his knighthood or his seat in the House of Lords.
And he recalls that he lost the Tory whip for what he described as “constructive criticism” of Khan.
He says he was told to apologise. He replied ‘I will never apologise to that man’, he says.
This goes down well with the audience. Anderson does not mention the fact that what he calls “constructive criticism” was condemned elsewhere described as “Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist”.
Related: Lee Anderson stripped of Tory whip over Sadiq Khan comments
Next up, Anderson is attacking David Lammy.
If anybody wants the number of a senior Washington official, get in touch with Lammy because he’s your man. To think he was our deputy prime minister! I’d love to see his telephone contact list. I bet he’s got Elvis’s number in there somewhere.
It is not hard to see why people regard this party as racist.
Finally, Anderson gets round to criticising some white opponents too – Angela Rayner and Peter Mandelson.
What journalists and commentators are saying about Reform UK undercover investigation allegations
Here is some comment from journalists on the significance of the investigation into Reform UK.
Tim Shipman , the Spectator’s political editor, says in a long article this morning that the “stench of incompetence” is deadly in politics. Here is an extract.
[Nigel] Farage should also be cognisant that the mood in the bars around Birmingham last night was utterly mutinous. Those who are putting themselves forward as Reform candidates confided their despair. ‘We are giving up our businesses and putting family lives on hold to fight for Reform and this is going on behind the scenes,’ one said …
The overwhelming reaction in my WhatsApp groups from operatives in the other main parties was incredulity at the recklessness of it all. ‘If this is how they talk to people they don’t know, imagine what they are saying to people they trust,’ observed one former Downing Street Tory …
So why did they do it? It is the experience of everyone I have ever known near the summit of politics that political operations take their character and operating logic from the person at the apex of the triangle. Leaders set culture. The worrying thing for Farage admirers is that if [Dan] Jukes and [James] Orr behaved like this it is because they believed it to be okay by the boss. Both boasted on camera of their closeness to the leader. In the meeting at the pub with the fake donor, Farage seemed both au fait with how the money would be transferred to Reform, and grateful for it.
The scrappy, sod the rules, bugger the establishment vibe comes from him. This is another reminder of the timeless rule that every major politician’s greatest strength is also their greatest weakness. Farage’s insurgent image has put him in a place where he might win power but made his operation demonstrably less suitable to exercise it.
And Stephen Bush from the Financial Times makes a very similar argument in his Inside Politics column this morning.
Individually, these accusations [the ones about evading rules in the undercover investigation, and the Zia Yusuf racism claims – see 11.47am ] are deeply damaging, but together they are even more so. In addition to the serious evidence that Channel 4 has uncovered, the manner in which Reform’s bigwigs conduct themselves in the video makes them look a bit ridiculous. A political party can survive being seen as mean or soft-hearted or a number of other things. But if it is seen as silly it cannot be a serious prospect for power.
Add that to the allegations of racism — something beyond the pale for many British voters — and the party is fishing in a small pool indeed. There are people who will vote for a ridiculous party. There is a smaller number who will vote for a party facing allegations of racism. But the number who will vote for a party that is both ridiculous and facing allegations of racism is smaller still. Ditto the number who will vote for a party that is ridiculous, facing allegations of racism and committed to the socially conservative agenda Reform has increasingly adopted (and to which the likes of Orr are firmly committed).
I’ve watched this investigation carefully. It has Reform UK banged to rights in conspiring to accept illegal donations. Two of Nigel Farage’s most senior aides have already been shown the door.
One thing that I love about the film is how it captures a very distinct social setting and milieu. Lunch at Rules. G&Ts at Mark’s. A champagne reception at Oswald’s.
Pints in a Shepherd Neame’s pub in Westminster. Discussion of Black Velvets over oysters by the sea.
Speaking to senior Reform sources, they acknowledge that the ch4 documentary is obviously damaging beyond the conference walls but they are confident and optimistic Farage can bringing it back with his speech this afternoon. There is a feeling among Reform insiders that the people who come across the worst are generally unknown characters beyond Westminster and there’s a path through. Wishful thinking?
Meanwhile, inside the conference hall members don’t care at all and think the documentary is a stitch up. But that’s not who Reform needs to win over.
With all respect to the BBC, the reason this story “matters” is not about whether it distracts from Reform’s conference. It “matters” because it is important our leaders are not conspiring to break the law.
Back to Zia Yusuf (see 11.47am ), and Jason Groves from the Mail says he has pulled out of a fringe event.
Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf has pulled out of a Spectator fringe event following complaints of unfair coverage. His interview with Michael Gove was due to be one of the highlights of the conference fringe
Liz Saville Roberts , the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, has said the undercover donations investigation shown on Channel 4 could bring down Nigel Farage.
Everyone knows that a fish rots from the head down. James Orr and Dan Jukes are nothing but tiddlers - this is the end for Farage.
What this exposes is the belief within Reform UK that the rules don’t apply to them, and that they are somehow untouchable and unaccountable, with a contemptuous assumption that everyone else can be taken for fools.
Farage opens Reform UK conference proceedings with tribute to Ann Widdecombe
At the Reform UK conference, the main proceedings in the hall are just starting.
Nigel Farage takes the stage and he says “someone is missing”. He is talking about Ann Widdecombe. He says he thought she was the best-known female politician in Britain since Margaret Thatcher.
He says, when she gave speeches, there was no way you could get to the end and not know what she meant. After politics, she went on Strictly Come Dancing, where she showed “her the ability to laugh at herself”. He says she was a tremendous asset to Reform UK, and “a trusted, loyal colleague”. She was loved by millions, he says.
Greens condemn Reform UK for inviting Jordan Bardella from far-right French RN to address conference
Jordan Bardella, president of the French far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party, is speaking at the Reform UK conference today. The RN leader Marine Le Pen is currently favourite to win next year’s presidential election.
Related: French far-right leader Jordan Bardella to address Reform UK party conference
The Greens have strongly condemned Reform UK for giving Bardella a platform. This is from their co-deputy leader, Mothin Ali .
By putting Jordan Bardella on its conference stage, Reform is sending a clear and deeply troubling message about who it considers welcome and acceptable in British politics. Bardella leads a party with a long and deeply troubling history of antisemitism, while he himself has repeatedly used rhetoric that targets Islam and Muslims and demonises immigration as an existential threat.
Reform cannot claim to be a mainstream political force while simultaneously offering a platform and a safe space to figures from Europe’s far-right. You cannot fight racism and hatred selectively. Antisemitism is racism. Islamophobia is racism. And the answer to one cannot be the normalisation of the other.
Reform should be asked a very simple question: why does a party that claims to speak for Britain with its rich tapestry of cultures and religions, believe that someone like Jordan Bardella belongs on its stage?
Anderson refuses to defend Zia Yusuf over racist tweet about Labour candidate
Lee Anderson , the Reform UK chair and chief whip, has refused to defend his colleague Zia Yusuf over a tweet widely condemned as racist.
On Tuesday Yusuf, the party’s home affairs spokesperson and the most extremist figure at the top of the party, posted this on social media.
The front runner being foisted on the people of Holborn by Labour to replace the former Prime Minister Keir Starmer in our Parliament was born in Somalia.
Yusuf was referring to Sagal Abdi-Wali, who came to the UK in the early 1990s as a child refugee from Somali. She is the Labour leader of Camden council and a former chair of the Holborn and St Pancras constituency Labour party.
Dawn Butler , chair of the London parliamentary Labour party, has described this as “vile and racist” and urged Yusuf to apologise.
In his interview on Sky News this morning, Anderson was asked about Yusuf’s comment. He did not criticise his colleague, but he did not defend him either.
Asked about the letter Butler sent to Anderson about this in his capacity as party chair, Anderson said:
I only got back off my holidays yesterday, so I have got an inbox full of stuff to do. I will be looking at the letter and I will be speaking to Zia to ask him directly. He is a fair-minded man.
Anderson also said it was up to Yusuf to explain what he meant by his tweet.
Danny Kruger suggests Reform UK aides suspended over investigation could return - despite Anderson saying they won't
Peter Walker is a senior Guardian correspondent.
James Orr and Dan Jukes, the two Reform officials suspended from their posts could return, a senior party figure has suggested, contradicting the view of Lee Anderson earlier.
Asked by the Guardian at a fringe event at the Reform conference whether the pair had, as set out by Anderson, gone for good or might return in the future, Danny Kruger , the MP who leads Reform’s preparation for government, indicated it was the latter.
He said: “My understanding is that they have been suspended pending an investigation.”
It does feel as if Reform have begun a fightback against the claims. Of course, any police action could change this.
The main Reform UK conference proceedings are late starting. According to the feed on Reform UK’s YouTube channel, that is just because it is taking longer than expected to get people into the hall.
In the meantime, on the YouTube channel, a Reform UK activist is banging on about people how he thinks people who have pushed “wokeism” should be “made to hang”.
Even the presenter, Jeremy Kyle, says he thinks that is going a bit far.
Reform UK says it would declare 'national emergency' on day one in power, not letting judges or officials 'get in our way'
The Reform UK undercover investigation has wiped out coverage of the overnight announcement from Nigel Farage about how the party will introduce a “national emergency” if it takes power.
This is how the party explained it in a news release issued overnight. It said:
During his speech to the Reform UK 2026 national conference, Nigel Farage is expected to commit to declaring a national emergency on day one of a Reform UK government, highlighting the dire state the country was left in by successive Labour and Conservative governments.
He will blast the Tories for their “failed” 14 years in government and highlight that Andy Burnham “wants 10 more”, but state that “time is running out to save Britain” and that the country “doesn’t have 10 years to be saved” .
As prime minister, he will make parliament “sit day and night” until all legislation is passed, forcing it to sit all through summer for seven days a week if necessary.
A Reform UK spokesman said: “Within days of winning the general election, we will introduce dozens of bills and force Parliament to sit all through summer for seven days a week to pass them. Britain is in serious trouble. We don’t have time to wait around to fix it” .
He will say that “if the Lords, judiciary or civil service get in our way they will discover just how determined we are” and will commit to doing “anything and everything to make the first 100 days work” .
While “national emergency” makes a good headline, it is hard from this to gauge what it actually means. It could be largely rhetoric; or it could be anything up to martial law.
In his interview with Richard Tice , the Reform UK deputy leader, on the Today programme this morning, Nick Robinson tried to get to the bottom of this. But he did not get very far.
When Robinson asked what Reform UK would do to judges if they got in the way, Tice just said the party would “pass laws to get stuff done”.
Farage aide Dan Jukes says he has stepped back from politics 'to clear my name' after undercover exposé
Dan Jukes , Nigel Farage’s long-serving aide who has quit over allegations of an electoral law breach, has claimed he was the subject of “entrapment”.
As the Press Association reports, undercover footage from reporting group Verbatim aired by Channel 4 showed Jukes suggesting a way to get around political donation rules to secure a £500,000 foreign donation for Reform UK.
This was 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.
The Reform UK response to the undercover investigation into donations broadcast by Channel 4 News has been confused. Last night they were trying to discredit it entirely, describing it has a “hoax”. (See 8.32am .) This morning the party seems to accept that the two aides who have in effect been ditched (see 8.43am ) went too far. But senior party figures giving interviews continue to seesaw between the two responses.
Malcolm Offord , the Reform UK leader in Scotland, gave an interview to Times Radio this morning and he leant towards the ‘discredit the report’ option. He said:
This looks to me to be a classic stitch-up on the night of the conference to try and derail us on this. This is not journalism which is honest journalism going in to uncover something in normal life. This is setting up, this is trying to set up an outcome that you are trying to achieve and under cover trying to do that in a dishonest manner.
There was another attack on Verbatim, the investigative reporting unit that carried out the sting, in a blog posted yesterday on Substack by Raheem Kassam , a former aide to Nigel Farage who now runs the National Pulse, a rightwing US website. He claimed the Verbatim investigation amounted to “election interference”.
UK ministers hit back at Argentinian Falklands claim and insist islands remain British
British ministers have hit back after the Argentinian president said “winds of change” favourable to his country’s claim to the Falklands were “blowing around the world”, Kiran Stacey reports.
Related: UK ministers hit back at Argentinian Falklands claim and insist islands remain British
The Electoral Commission has issued a statement this morning saying it is in touch with the police about the undercover investigation into Reform UK. In a statement, it said:
We are considering all relevant information, in line with our regulatory remit, and we are in touch with the Met police.
The Electoral Commission has not approved the donor vetting process for Reform, or any other party. Parties are responsible for ensuring their internal processes and controls are fit for purpose.
We provide advice and guidance to political parties on how to comply with electoral law.
The law requires political parties to report all permissible donations they accept with a value over £11,180 and all impermissible donations over £500.
Information about any potential attempt to evade the controls on donations is for the police to consider.
Unlock Democracy , which campaigns for democratic reform, says the Reform UK undercover donations investigation shows the need for a cap on the amount people can donate to political parties.
Tom Brake, its chief executive (and a former Lib Dem MP), said:
Until a donations cap is in place, the temptation will always be there to circumvent the rules when pursuing large donors.
This latest allegation must be thoroughly investigated to confirm no laws have been broken.
Farage admits conversations filmed undercover 'don't look good', and says he's 'not happy'
Here are some more lines from Nigel Farage ’s interview with LBC this morning where he gave his response to the undercover report about an apparent Reform UK plot to evade election donations rules. (See 9.07am .)
Farage insisted Reform UK had not broken any laws – but he admitted aides had said things they “perhaps should not have been said” and conceded he was “not happy” about this. He said:
The party has broken no laws. The party has not taken any dodgy money or anything like that whatsoever.
However, it is a clear case of entrapment, and they worked at it for a very, 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, you know, they have been removed this morning. And yeah, you know, I’m not happy about it.
He rejected the claim that the footage of him discussing a £500,000 donation with fake father-and-son donors (see 9am ) showed that he was aware of a plan to circumvent electoral law. He said:
If you listen to what I said, I said, is this all above board? Is this all legal? I’ve been told it was a global family office based in London. And by the way, I was in the middle of a Clacton by-election. I turned up to see people. I knew nothing about them whatsoever. I meet people all the time.
He claimed the three polls featured in the investigation were not commissioned by Reform UK. He said:
Whilst the poll benefited Reform, it wasn’t commissioned by Reform.
It had nothing to do with Reform. It was an independent third party that did it. So that’s nothing. That’s nothing. Polls are funded by overseas people every single week. Every single week.
In fact, the report contains footage clearly suggesting the polls were carried out at at the behest of Reform UK.
He suggested Labour and the Tories had a worse record on donations because they in effect sold peerages. He said:
The Labour Party and the Conservative Party have been selling peerages for years in return for political donations. Political donations leading to big government contracts.
In the world of political funding, all sorts of things have been done over decades that are wrong.
He said the party had suspended two aides because their remarks “don’t look good”. He said:
I promise you, the polling is not even an issue. Nothing. The party has not done anything wrong, but entrapped conversations don’t look good, and that’s why we’ve taken the action we have.
Tice accuses 'far-left, eco-zealot radicals' behind Reform UK donations investigation of 'entrapment'
Richard Tice , the Reform UK deputy leader, was on the Today programme this morning. Like Nigel Farage (see 9.07am ), he also insisted that, despite what the undercover report shown on Channel 4 News revealed, Reform UK had not broken any laws. He said:
The reality is that no money has been received whatsoever. We’ve got a KC’s opinion that makes clear no rules have been broken.
He also insisted that “no benefit in kind was received” by Reform UK. (One of the allegations in the report was the £30,000 paid by the undercover team to fund three opinion polls helpful to Reform UK amounted to a benefit in kind which should not have been allowed from a foreign donor and which, if they had been legitimate, should have been declared.)
Tice also claimed Verbatim, the investigative reporting unit founded by the Centre for Climate Reporting that brought the report to Channel 4 News, may have broken the law itself.
You talk about the issue of the Elections Act.
Section 61 confirms that actually the offence of entrapment, which has taken place by Channel 4 and these far-left, eco-zealot radicals … I believe Channel 4 have broken the rules of entrapment. They’ve got questions to answer.
Tice seemed to be talking about section 61 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 which says it is an offence to “induce” someone to commit the various offences set out in the act.
But section 61 largely applies to offences relating to voting, not donations, and so it seems unlikely the Channel 4 News would face an investigation of the kind Tice is proposing.
Farage says Reform UK has 'broken no laws' and not taken any 'dodgy money' in response to undercover investigation
Nigel Farage has been speaking about the undercover donations investigaton. He says the party has “broken no laws” and has not “taken any dodgy money”.
Anderson says Farage won't quit over undercover report into donations, and 'country needs him'
In a separate interview, on Times Radio, Lee Anderson , the Reform UK chief whip and party chair, insisted there was no chance of Nigel Farage resigning over the undercover investigation into party donations.
I don’t think Nigel has got any questions on this. The two people involved, they have gone. They have left the building. I keep saying this time and time again. They have gone. That is the right thing to do. They are not coming back and Nigel is going nowhere …
Nigel is an honest man. I have known him for many years now. The party has done the right thing by launching this investigation. Nigel will be on the main stage later on explaining our first 100 days in government. He is not going anywhere. The country needs him.
While James Orr and Dan Jukes are the main focus of the investigation, the film shown by Channel 4 News suggests Farage himself also had some knowledge of the proposal for a US-based supporter to donate £500,000 to the party by channelling it through his UK-based son. Foreigners are not allowed to donate to UK political parties, and donating via proxies in this manner is also banned.
Farage is filmed attending an oyster bar lunch where he thought he was meeting the father and son. But the ‘son’ was an undercover reporter, and the ‘father’ an actor hired to play the part.
After discussion of how the money from the UK might be given to the party via the son, Farage is recorded telling them: “Thank you both.”
Two aides suspended over donations allegations have 'no chance of coming back', says Reform UK's chair Lee Anderson
Lee Anderson , the Reform UK chief whip and party chair, has said that James Orr and Dan Jukes – the two aides primarily involved in the apparent plot exposed by an undercover investigation to evade electoral law – were suspended and won’t be coming back.
In an interview on Sky News this morning, Anderson said:
[Orr and Jukes] were told they had to step down. They have stepped down. And that’s got to be the right thing to do.
The presenter, Kamali Melbourne, put it to Anderson that Orr, head of policy at the party, and Jukes, a key aide to Nigel Farage, were both very important figures in the party and asked if there was any chance they could “come back”. Anderson replied:
No, there’s no chance of them coming back. They’ve stepped aside.
We’re a serious party, you know, and sometimes in politics, you have to make tough decisions, harsh decisions. I think this probably was an easier decision, being given the option to stand down.
They have gone. Like I said, they’ve left the building and our focus now is on the conference today.
Farage personally has 'serious questions to answer' over alleged Reform UK plot to evade electoral law, Ed Davey says
Ed Davey , the Lib Dem leader, says Nigel Farage was ultimately responsible for the apparent attempt to evade electoral law on donations exposed by the undercover investigation shown on Channel 4 News.
In a post on social media this morning, he says:
Clearly very serious questions for Farage to answer given his role in the meeting.
Davey was referring to the way Reform UK , in its first response to the undercover report last night, said it had “been the target of a hoax perpetuated by foreign-funded, climate change activists posing as would-be party donors”.
Labour asks Met police to launch criminal inquiry into Reform UK donations, as two party aides involved step down
Good morning. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is speaking on the main day of his party’s conference in Birmingham. It has been a bad summer for the party. After having a large lead over the other parties in opinion polls for over a year, the lead collapsed after Andy Burnham became PM, and now Reform UK and Labour are basically neck and neck. Farage has been embroiled in the scandal over his failure to declare a £5m donation. And last night, on the eve of Farage’s big speech, Channel 4 News broadcast the findings of a long, undercover investigation showing leading Reform UK figures apparently plotting to evade UK law on electoral donations.
Related: Reform officials ‘plotted to break law on foreign donations’ in undercover film
You can read the Channel 4 News write-up here . But to fully appreciate how strong the evidence against Reform UK is, it is best to watch the half-hour report in full.
Reform UK says the two senior Reform officials most implicated in the apparent plot to evade electoral law are stepping down pending an investigation. In a statement released about half an hour ago, a Reform UK spokesperson said:
Reform UK has launched an investigation following the broadcast of a Channel 4 News programme.
Both individuals involved have stepped down from their respective positions pending the outcome of the investigation.
The party believes it is important that the investigation is allowed to proceed independently and without prejudice. No further comment will be made while the investigation is ongoing.
This is a reference to James Orr, the party’s head of policy, and Dan Jukes, a senior aide to Farage.
The Labour party has written to the Metropolitan police calling for a criminal investigation. In her letter to Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, Bridget Phillipson, the Labour party chair, says:
We … believe there is a proper basis for a police investigation into whether offences under PPERA [Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000] have been committed, including, but not necessarily limited to:
(a) offences under section 61(1) concerning evasion of restrictions on donations;
(b) any offence arising from knowingly providing false information to, or withholding material information from, the registered treasurer in circumstances falling within section 61(2);
(c) any offence arising from Reform UK’s acceptance or retention of impermissible donations, including the £32,500 of polling expenditure, if the evidential and reporting facts establish the necessary elements; and
(d) any related offence concerning the accuracy or completeness of statutory donation returns.
We understand that political finance matters also fall within the regulatory remit of the Electoral Commission. We are not suggesting that a police investigation should displace the commission’s role; rather, given the apparent possibility of criminal conduct, we believe the allegations should be brought formally to the attention of the police so that the appropriate authorities can determine the proper investigative route.
11.05am: The main day of Reform UK’s conference opens with tributes to Ann Widdecombe. After that the main speakers on the stage are chief whip Lee Anderson at 11.30am; Welsh leader Dan Thomas at 11.45am; home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf at noon; Jordon Bardella, president of the French National Rally party at 12.30pm: Matt Goodwin at 3pm; Sarah Pochin MP at 3.15pm; deputy leader Richard Tice at 3.30pm: and Nigel Farage at 3.50pm. There are also fringe meetings through the day.
1pm: Farage and Bardella hold a press conference.
Afternoon: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in West Sussex.
I will be blogging until around lunchtime, and then colleagues will be taking over. I’m afraid we are no longer able to have comments open below the line every day on this blog . If you want to contact us, please email politics.live@theguardian.com. You can use this email to flag up corrections, comments for publication, questions or complaints.
Here is a brief round-up of the day’s main news stories:
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Tom Ambrose (now); Andrew Sparrow and Martin Belam (earlier). Published 4 Sept 2026, 05:02 pm.
