The report showed Farage — who is due to give his main address at Reform’s Birmingham conference Friday — meeting undercover reporters posing as a wealthy U.S. backer and his son, and thanking the pair for their support. A U.S. citizen would not be a permissible donor under British electoral law.
Channel 4 News said the two men had at this point already funded £32,500-worth of polling commissioned by Reform, with the findings making their way into national newspapers with no declaration of the party’s involvement. This benefit in kind was not reported to watchdog the Electoral Commission.
Labour, which has been fighting to close a polling gap with Reform after a torrid two years in government, leapt on the Channel 4 report.
“We actually do have very tight rules around these things in this country for a reason, so that people have confidence in the electoral system and in our democracy,” Education Secretary Lucy Powell told Times Radio Friday morning. “But time and again, I think what we’re finding is Reform just think these rules don’t apply to them.”
Lee Anderson, Reform’s chairman, argued Friday that Farage himself has no further questions to answer on the affair, although admitted the row is a “distraction” as the party’s conference gets underway.
“The two people involved, they have gone. They have left the building,” he told Times Radio. “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.”
