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Nigel Farage is to close Reform UK’s conference as the party finds itself embroiled in a row about political donations.
The Reform UK leader, who defended himself over allegations Reform had broken laws on political donations in his headline speech, is also expected to make closing remarks in Birmingham on Saturday.
Reform found itself at the centre of fresh row about donations on Thursday, when Channel 4 broadcast footage that appeared to show senior Reform figures discussing how to disguise donations from foreign sources.
Mr Farage was already facing intense scrutiny about donations Reform has received, as well as £5 million he was given by a wealthy backer.
The footage was part of an investigation by undercover group Verbatim, who posed as an American donor and his son who had paid for polling allegedly commissioned by Reform and were seeking to channel money to Reform.
Accepting donations from a foreign company, including donations in kind such as polling, could constitute a criminal offence, and the party has been reported to the police.
The Liberal Democrats have also asked Parliament’s standards watchdog to investigate the claims.
Dan Jukes, a long-serving Farage aide, and James Orr, the party’s head of policy, have stood down pending an internal investigation of their appearance in the footage.
Over the course of Friday, Mr Farage repeatedly said the party had broken no laws and dismissed Mr Jukes’s comments as “loose pub talk” that included “a couple of boasts that simply were not true”.
In a speech delayed by a “security alert” and interrupted four times by hecklers, Mr Farage vowed not to be “distracted” from his agenda by what he called a “highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks”.
Addressing the party faithful, he said Reform had been “the subject of a highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks” by an “ecosystem” that had been built up around Labour and the Conservatives over the past century.
He said: “They were never going to come out with a tray of gin and tonics, I promise you.
“But I promise you, we will not be distracted by any of this. We are absolutely determined in what we’re doing.”
