Reform UK Clears Two Aides in Internal Review as Police Inquiry Continues
Reform UK has cleared two senior staff of breaking party funding rules, but both remain suspended while police keep investigating. The Guardian
The 27-page internal inquiry was published on Wednesday. It examined press adviser Dan Jukes, who advises Nigel Farage, and head of policy James Orr. It was carried out by the party's legal secretary and general secretary.
Police have been investigating possible electoral law offences linked to Reform donations since early September 2026. The case began after undercover footage obtained by the reporting group Verbatim was broadcast by Channel 4 News.
In that footage, Jukes and Orr were filmed discussing an arrangement in which a US donor paid more than £30,000 for three polls with results helpful to Reform. The money went to the pollster JL Partners. The two men believed they were speaking to a father-and-son pair of donors, who were in fact undercover reporters. The Guardian
In separate filmed conversations, Jukes discussed the idea of a US donor giving £500,000 to Reform through his UK-based son. Under British electoral law, foreign donors are not allowed to fund UK parties. HuffPost UK
Farage met the undercover reporters, who were posing as donors, for lunch in Clacton. He did not object when the plan was explained. He later said he had not been listening during the lunch.
The internal report said the payments to JL Partners were not donations under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, the law known as PPERA that sets UK donation rules. Its reasoning was that Reform did not pay for or directly arrange the polls, so the party did not receive a donation that had to be registered or refused.
The report also said there was no evidence that Jukes or Orr knowingly agreed to help move the £500,000 donation. That money was never handed over. The money never moved.
Reform sources said the party plans legal action against Verbatim over the undercover operation. That would be separate from the police investigation into possible electoral law offences.
The broader context here is that an internal party review and a criminal inquiry are different things. Think of the first as an employer checking its own handbook while police test the law itself. In my view, readers should focus on the report's two legal arguments: whether polls paid for by someone else count as a party donation, and whether talking about a donation sent through a middleman counts as an arrangement if no money moves. Police and any Electoral Commission review would test those points on their own, along with questions about Farage's presence at the lunch. The possible case against Verbatim is a separate track about reporting methods, not funding rules.
