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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 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.

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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."

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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 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.

Alongside the lunch in which Farage and Dan Jukes discuss a £500,000 donation, Channel 4 News's report also shows a discussion over polling.

According to Channel 4 News, Reform's head of policy, James Orr, suggests to the undercover reporter that his American father could pay for opinion polling to aid Reform's campaigning.

The poll would cost £18,000 plus VAT - and Orr suggests the polling company could send the bill to the undercover reporter.

In all, Channel 4 News says Reform commissioned three polls costing £32,500 in total and that the public was not told who commissioned or funded them.

Not disclosing such funding would be illegal and accepting this kind of foreign funding would also be illegal.

Reform UK has denied any wrongdoing.

The Electoral Commission says it is "in touch" with the Metropolitan Police following Channel 4's broadcast.

"We are considering all relevant information, in line with our regulatory remit, and we are in touch with the Met Police," the organisation's says in a statement.

The statement adds that the Commission had not approved Reform's donor vetting process, as political parties are responsible for making sure 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," the statement says.

“Information about any potential attempt to evade the controls on donations is for the police to consider."

The Electoral Commission is an independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finances in the UK.

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Nigel Farage's senior aide Dan Jukes and Reform's head of policy James Orr have both stood down pending the outcome of the internal investigation.

James Orr was appointed Reform UK’s head of policy earlier this year.

He is an associate professor in the philosophy of religion at Cambridge University. Orr is also the UK chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Dan Jukeshas served as a long-term media aide to Farage. Before joining Reform, Jukes was involved in the UKIP party, according to Prospect magazine.

Jukes said he denied wrongdoing and had "stepped back from politics in order to clear my name." The BBC has contacted Orr for a comment.

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Chris Mason
Political editor

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Nigel Farage's senior aide Dan Jukes has released a statement, after he stepped down from Reform UK following the release of the Channel 4 News report.

“This was entrapment over a prolonged period of nearly a year by foreign-funded climate change activists," he says.

"I totally deny any wrongdoing but have stepped back from politics in order to clear my name.”

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have reported Reform to the Metropolitan Police over the allegations broadcast by Channel 4. The force said on Thursday it would assess the matter and any information provided to it.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police told the BBC that they are aware of the report "involving political party donations and an alleged breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 relating to polling".

It is understood the force has not begun an investigation.

In response to the report, the Electoral Commission says "information about any potential attempt to evade the controls on donations is for the police to consider".

A spokesperson added: "The law requires political parties to report all permissible donations they accept with a value over £11,180 and all impermissible donations over £500."

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Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has insisted his party has "done nothing wrong" following the undercover investigation.

Speaking on LBC this morning, Farage says the recordings "don't look good, and that's why we've taken the action we have".

As we reported earlier, Reform says that it has launched an internal investigation and Dan Jukes and James Orr have stepped down pending its outcome.

They "said things that shouldn't have been said", Farage also tells LBC.

A Reform spokesman says the party believes its important the investigation is allowed to go ahead "independently and without prejudice".

In the Channel 4 report, which aired on Thursday night, undercover filming showed Nigel Farage's senior aide, Dan Jukes, suggesting a way to get around electoral law to secure a foreign donation of £500,000 for Reform.

The undercover filming was carried out by a group called Verbatim Investigations, which was founded by journalists from the Centre for Climate Reporting. Channel 4 News say they have verified the material they were given and chose to broadcast.

The footage includes a discussion over a lunch, where a reporter posed as a UK-based son and an actor pretended to be his American father. Opposite them are both Jukes and Nigel Farage.

Farage says "it's all above board" after the son has told him he has been in discussions with both Jukes and Reform's policy chief, James Orr about the donation for some time.

"I'll be the registered donor," the son says. "But then dad will send the money to me, and then as soon as that's done and all those conversations are had the money is available."

"Thank you," Farage is heard saying.

Electoral law sets out that to be a permissible donor to a UK political party you must be a UK registered voter, or a company registered in the UK. In this instance, the son would be a permissible donor, his father would not be.

Here's a clip from the report:

Reform UK says two of its senior officials have stepped down as the party launches an investigation into claims about funding aired during a Channel 4 News report.

Nigel Farage's senior aide Dan Jukes and Reform's head of policy James Orr have both stood down pending the outcome of the internal probe, the party says.

"The party believes it is important that the investigation is allowed to proceed independently and without prejudice," it says in a statement.

"No further comment will be made while the investigation is ongoing."

In the Channel 4 News report, which aired on Thursday, undercover filming showed Jukes suggesting a way to get around electoral law to secure a foreign donation of £500,000 for the party.

Reform has denied any wrongdoing and said it had "been the target of a hoax perpetuated by foreign funded climate change activists".