Reform UK's conference is now under way, as more questions about money swirl following last night's Channel 4 News report, which showed undercover filming carried out by Verbatim Investigations.

Here's a reminder of what those involved in the programme have said, after the investigation appeared to show a senior Reform UK aide suggesting a way to get around electoral law to secure a foreign donation.

• Party leader Nigel Farage told LBC this morning that his party had "done nothing wrong". But he did say the recordings "don't look good, and that's why we've taken the action we have"
• As a reminder, senior aide Dan Jukes and head of policy James Orr have stepped down pending the outcome of an investigation
• Jukes has called the investigation "entrapment over a prolonged period of nearly a year by foreign-funded climate change activists". He denies any wrongdoing but says he has "stepped back from politics in order to clear my name"
• Orr says he has agreed to step down "pending the outcome of the party’s internal investigation into the conduct of the program", adding that he "will cooperate fully"
• In response to allegations of “entrapment” from Dan Jukes, a spokesperson for Verbatim Investigations told BBC News: "Our undercover investigation was carried out to the highest journalistic standards. As the footage shows, the plots we exposed were proposed by Mr Jukes and Mr Orr, not by our journalists"

As a reminder, undercover filming showed Jukes suggesting a way to get around electoral law to secure a foreign donation of £500,000 for the party, while Channel 4 News says Orr suggests to the undercover reporter that his American father (an actor) could pay for opinion polling to aid Reform's campaigning.

Next up is a question from GB News, which asks Farage whether he can confirm his party has never received foreign donations taken under UK donor names.

He is also asked whether he will apologise to his supporters for making his party look like "all the rest".

Farage says his party have never offered peerages or government contracts in exchange for donations and adds he has made it "very clear to our biggest donors they will get nothing in return from me".

The news conference has now finished - Farage will deliver his main speech later on the conference main stage.

Farage is next asked by the Daily Telegraph about an interaction that was shown by Channel 4 News, in which he is heard thanking a person posing as an American man who wanted to donate to Reform via his British resident son.

The group is out for lunch in the undercover footage.

Farage says he was told he had to go and meet these people, and was told they had a "global family trust headquartered in London".

He says he asked whether it was "legally checked" and "above board" and was told it was.

He adds that he is not an "expert" in how family trusts work - "they said they were going to give us money, I said thank you", he explains.

"I'm not particularly worried about what I said in any way at all."

Bardella is asked by a journalist if the new claims over funding is giving him second thoughts over being an ally with Reform UK.

He says he does not have any further information on the situation other than what Farage has said. The National Rally leader says it looks like a "smoke screen" and is waiting to hear everyone's version.

This will not damage the co-operation that his party is currently building with Reform, he says. "My being here today happens after months of consultation and co-operation."

Bardella says he hopes Farage will become the next British prime minister and that they will have the opportunity to work together.

A journalist from ITV News next asks Farage if he accepts the Channel 4 News revelations throw out "real questions" about the professionalism of Reform UK and its fitness to govern the country.

Farage replies by saying the investigation was carried out by "far left activists" who have "perpetuated hoaxes for many years".

He repeats his earlier line that party has not taken a "single penny" in illegal funding and denies the existence of any illegal donations, but says there was a bit of boasting and a bit of "jack-the-laddery" in the undercover footage.

Farage says he is annoyed the undercover reporters even got to meet him and "it should not have happened" and admits the party needs "to do better", adding "there was certainly human error here".

The Reform staff in the videos released by Channel 4 News, filmed by Verbatim Investigations, were "pushed into saying these things", Farage says, and their comments were "injudicious at best".

Farage says both men in question, James Orr and Dan Jukes, have stepped down pending an investigation.

He again says Reform has broken no law and takes compliance around donations "very, very seriously".

"That is really all I'm going to say on this subject."

The BBC's Chris Mason asks Nigel Farage about "lots of bleeping" in the footage released by Channel 4 News on Thursday, which implies that there are names of other potential donors where there could have been a breach of the law.

Farage is asked if this is a pattern of activity being pursued?

Farage reads a statement in response, and says the party has "done nothing wrong" and has "taken no illegal money". He adds that the polls in question were not commissioned by Reform, and that there is "no issue of any kind around the polls".

What is more problematic is "loose pub talk", he says, including a couple of boasts "that simply were not true".

Neither of the men in question, Dan Jukes and James Orr, were "authorised to act" in the way they did, he adds.

Image source, UK Pool

We're about to hear more now from Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage and National Rally leader, Jordan Bardella.

They've just started speaking at a press conference, which you can watch live at the top of the page.

We'll also bring you the key lines here.

Image source, PA Media

Nigel Farage has just joined French politician Jordan Bardella on stage at Reform's party conference, as Bardella delivered a keynote speech.

The president of France's hard-right National Rally party told the conference that France "must take back control" of immigration.

He promised that if France elects his party, "our government will do everything in its power to ensure France is no longer the gateway for illegal migration into the UK".

Alongside Bardella, Farage announces a new "entente cordiale" between the UK and France.

The pair reveal a memorandum of understanding between Reform UK and France's National Rally, which they say will take effect if both win their next national elections.

The agreement says France will attempt to stop small boat departures, and the UK will intercept boats in the Channel and return the people on board to France.

"We are about to sign an historic document that will stop the boats forever," Farage says. Bardella and Farage then sign the document and hold it up as the crowd applauds.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

On immigration: Reform wants to use the Royal Navy to "stop the boats" crossing the English channel and return them to France; it also wants to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, which it says stands in the way of curbing illegal immigration.

On the economy: Reform says it would lift the income tax starting threshold to £20,000 (from its current level of £12,570) and take seven million people out of paying income tax, along with abolishing business rates - which are charged on most non-residential premises by councils.

On welfare: Reform says it would aim to cut about £50bn from the benefits bill and replace the current disability payments system - our colleagues at BBC Verify have a breakdown of the plans.

On energy: The party says it would scrap a government net zero target in order to cut energy bills, with deputy leader Richard Tice arguing the UK should "learn to adapt to the changing climate, rather than arrogantly think you can stop the power of the sun".

On children: Leader Nigel Farage wants to make it easier for people to have children, and has confirmed his party would back more generous tax breaks for married people and scrap the two-child benefit limit.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Reform's shadow home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf is now addressing delegates in Birmingham at the party's conference.

He says one of Nigel Farage's first acts as prime minister would be to call the Royal Navy and make sure "not a single unauthorised vessel makes it to the shores of the United Kingdom".

He tells the crowds in Birmingham that more than 200,000 people have "landed illegally" in the UK unvetted.

He claims Tory and Labour ministers chose to accommodate them in "luxury hotels" with three hot meals a day and tax funded trips to the cinema while ordinary people struggled to pay their bills.

He says that will change under a Reform government.

It's Reform UK's big day at their annual conference in Birmingham, but the news is being dominated by a swirl of questions about money.

Reform are facing questions about whether they look fit to govern the country, reports our political editor Chris Mason.

Here's what you need to know in under a minute:

Image source, Reuters

Here are six key Reform figures to remember:

Core leadership:

Nigel Farage, party leader andMP for Clacton: Has led Reform since June 2024, and was recently re-elected as MP for Clacton after resigning in July.

Richard Tice, deputy leader and MP for Boston and Skegness: A wealthy businessman who worked in property for over 30 years. He was a member of the Conservative party for most of his adult life before joining the Brexit Party in 2019, which later evolved into Reform.

Lee Anderson, chairman and MP for Ashfield: Began his working life as a Nottinghamshire miner, and entered politics as a Labour councillor before later switching to the Tories, eventually defecting to Reform.

Other senior figures:

Robert Jenrick, treasury spokesperson and MP for Newark: Defected to Reform in January 2026 after serving as a Conservative minister.

Zia Yusuf, home affairs spokesperson, not currently an MP: He made his money co-founding a luxury concierge business before moving into politics.

Suella Braverman, spokesperson for education, skills and equalities, and MP for Fareham and Waterlooville: A former Tory home secretary and attorney general, Braverman defected to Reform in January 2026, saying she had felt "politically homeless for the best part of two years".

Wedaeli Chibelushi
Live reporter

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

This morning we've been bringing you updates after two senior officials stepped down from Reform UK, following an undercover report into the party published by Channel 4 News.

It comes as the party hosts its annual conference in Birmingham - Nigel Farage has just appeared on stage to officially open the event.

Here's what has been happening this morning:

• On Thursday night, Channel 4 News aired undercover footage captured by Verbatim Investigations showing Nigel Farage's aide, Dan Jukes, suggesting a way to get around electoral law to secure a foreign donation of £500,000 for the party
• This morning, Jukes stood down, alongside James Orr, Reform's head of policy who also appeared in the report - Jukes said the report "was entrapment"
• Reform has launched an investigation into the funding claims but said the party had "broken no laws"
• Farage told LBC this morning that his party had "done nothing wrong", but said the recordings "don't look good" which is why they've "taken the action we have"
• The Electoral Commission said it is "in touch" with the Metropolitan Police following Channel 4's broadcast and is considering all relevant information
• The BBC understands the police have not, as it stands, opened an investigation into Reform
• The row risks overshadowing Reform's conference in Birmingham, as some of its best known politicians seem on edge, our political reporter says

Image source, Getty Images

Nigel Farage has just appeared on the main stage at Reform's party conference in Birmingham.

"Someone is missing" from the event, he begins his speech by saying. He then goes on to pay tribute to former Reform spokesperson Ann Widdecome, who was found dead with serious head injuries last month.

Later, Farage is expected to appear back on the same stage to deliver his keynote speech.

Joe Pike
Political correspondent, reporting from the Reform party conference

Image source, Reuters

Some of Reform’s best known politicians seem on edge this morning, and it’s not hard to work out why.

This latest chapter in the party’s long donations saga is already overshadowing the first full day of their annual conference.

Because today is a weekday, it is also the party’s biggest chance at getting their arguments and policies across to millions of people watching on television and listening by radio. News consumption is always lower on Saturdays.

Reform’s annual conference lasts about half as long as the upcoming Labour and Conservative events, and Nigel Farage’s team have long worried that would limit their ability to land multiple stories.

“We’ve only got two days”, said a Reform strategist before the latest revelations. “And that means two news cycles”.

Certainly this news cycle will be dominated by one damaging story. The timing for Nigel Farage could not have been worse - he is due to make his big speech this afternoon.

Image source, Reuters

Reform spokesperson and MP Suella Braverman has described the TV investigation carried out by Verbatim Investigations and reported by Channel 4 News "just another example of extreme climate activists masquerading as journalists trying to smear Reform".

"I was very much aware that joining Reform would mean there would be hit jobs, left, right and centre, that mainstream media, political activists would do whatever they could try to stop us in our tracks," she tells the BBC at the Reform conference in Birmingham.

Asked why two of Nigel Farage's closest aids had stepped down if the report was just a "hit job," Braverman says Reform are "taking issues seriously" and that is why an internal investigation has been launched.

We will get to the bottom of what happened," she says. "If anything did indeed happen.

"We have taken legal advice notably from a senior lawyer a KC who has confirmed that no rules and no laws have been broken."

Politicians from across the political spectrum have called for an independent investigation into Reform UK following the Channel 4 News report.

Cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson says "the sleaze and scandals are piling up for Nigel Farage and Reform". In a video shared by the Labour Party on X, Philipson says the report "poses serious questions that he and Reform must answer to prove Reform have not broken the law".

Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake asks: "Why does Reform think the rules don’t apply to them?" He says that if Reform have nothing to hide they should welcome a "full and independent investigation by the Electoral Commission and the Met Police, not resist one".

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey says: "If Reform blatantly, intentionally and knowingly broke election law, they should be held fully accountable." Davey says his party have asked the police and Electoral Commission to investigate.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski says in a post on X: "Farage is happy to take money from big business and secret backers because he has no interest in improving people's lives."

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform, says no money has been received and no benefit in kind received by the party.

“I am not concerned at all,” Tice says, speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning. He adds Reform have a KC’s opinion who makes it clear “no rules have been broken”.

“Two individuals have been suspended pending an internal investigation. All of these things can be true at the same time."

Asked whether the two men could come back after the investigation, Tice says: “Let’s wait and see what the investigation says, that will take its course.”

Joe Pike
Political correspondent, reporting from the Reform party conference

Image source, Getty Images

This story is moving pretty fast.

If we step back, the problem is that this is Reform UK's annual conference - the chance to change the agenda and perceptions about the party.

They want to talk about the first 100 days of a potential Reform UK government.

Nigel Farage wants to make his big speech, but instead, there are a lot of questions again about the party and its funding.