There’s no question the allegations in the Channel 4 film have been embarrassing for Reform, and disrupted what they hoped would be a conference about their plans for office if they win the next General Election.
Everywhere around the huge, draughty exhibition hall in Birmingham are giant posters and placards saying, “Reform – the first 100 days”.
They wanted to herald their deal with a serious contender to be the next French President, Jordan Bardella, to deal with small boats.
They were keen to highlight the promise to cut income tax if they win the election, scheduled to be in 2029.
They wanted to talk about their proposals for education, welfare, planning, and the rest.
Party members, delighted to have a reason to get together, have taken part in those sessions, applauded and cheered in the hall; gone wild for Farage on stage.
But for the rest of the country, most of the noise from the conference will have been the huge and awkward story about the toxic mix of politics and money.
What is harder to assess is the impact this mess will have on Farage’s standing with the public, after a tricky summer and a recent poll slump.
At the top of the party there is a quiet admission that what has happened here is a genuine mistake.
One senior figure told me they could brush off other claims of murky funding, confident nothing had gone wrong – but they conceded these claims do matter, and that for a certain vital percentage of voters, it would “cause them to ask questions”.
No one is pretending it’s just what Farage tried to joke was a “little, local difficulty”.
And there is a private acknowledgement that stories like this can be off putting to voters beyond Reform’s no doubt very enthusiastic base.
Another party source told me they were “totally blindsided” by the revelations; stunned “there’d just been no diligence” and in disbelief at how Jukes and Orr, who both say they’d done nothing wrong, seem to have behaved.
A different member of the party’s top team said, “hopefully, it’s just growing pains”. In other words, Reform’s developed so fast that sometimes mistakes are made. But they told me: “The party has to step up – sometimes the people that got us here, aren’t the people for the next stage”.
Among Farage’s fans at the conference, I found different views. One member was convinced the party is treated unfairly: “It’s the blob, it’s all against him,” she said.
But another young Reform enthusiast rejected that, telling me: “It’s all documented and there on camera – Nigel has to be more careful about what party members say.”
But there is a sense of “here we go again”. When I asked another member what they thought of the financial scandal, a weary answer, “Which one?”
This time last year in the same conference complex, Reform felt like they were simply sweeping all before them. Twelve months on, they are having to work harder, the scrutiny is more intense, and the pressure only growing.
Farage’s admission that he “wasn’t listening” to the conversation was telling – to get to power without more of these kinds of serious embarrassments, he may have to pay more attention to what is going on.
