Police widen criminal probe into Reform UK over foreign funding claims
The party has denied wrongdoing and says it will ‘fully cooperate’ with the police investigation
British police said on Wednesday a criminal investigation into the populist Reform UK party would be widened to include allegations made in a documentary that officials planned to break electoral law on foreign funding.
Reform, led by veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, denied any wrongdoing and a spokesman for the party said it would “fully cooperate” with the investigation.
Farage, under investigation by a parliamentary watchdog about earlier donations, was forced to sack two of his closest aides last week, after the undercover investigation was aired.
It showed two senior officials in Reform – then head of policy James Orr and Farage’s former right-hand man, Dan Jukes – speaking about funding with a supposed US businessman and his British-based son, including conversations about a payment for three opinion polls commissioned by the party.
On Friday, Reform launched an internal investigation and denied the allegations, saying the party had been the victim of a hoax. Farage described some of the comments as little more than “loose pub talk”.
London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement its detectives had assessed a number of “reports relating to donations and polling involving a political party” and had decided “there are potential offences requiring investigation”.
