NIGEL Farage has claimed he “didn’t give it a second thought” when he was offered an illegal £500,000 donation.
The Reform UK leader insisted his party had “taken no illegal money” as he faced questions over bombshell revelations which have overshadowed Reform's annual conference.
Two senior aides, James Orr and Dan Jukes, have been dropped after they were alleged in a Channel 4 documentary to have conspired to take American funding worth £32,500 for three polls it commissioned earlier in the year.
Speaking at a press conference in Birmingham on Friday, Farage was asked about part of the sting operation, produced by a team called Verbatim, where he appeared willing to accept a six-figure donation from an actor posing as an American financier.
He said: “I was in the middle of the by-election, I was told I had to go and meet these people.”
Farage claimed that he was told they had a “global family trust” and the documentary showed that Reform believed the money would be funnelled to the party via a man posing as the financier’s UK-based son.
He said: “If you look at the video, I asked the question: ‘Is this all above board?’ I asked the question: ‘Has all this been legally checked?’”
Claiming that he had received reassurances, Farage added: “I basically didn’t give it a second thought.”
Addressing parts of the documentary which appeared to show Jukes claiming the party had disguised foreign donations before, Farage called his former top aide’s comments “loose pub talk, including a couple of boasts that simply were not true”.
He added: “So in the video, when he says we’ve done it with X, we’ve done it with Y. Well, the reason that Channel 4 haven’t broadcast the names of X and Y is because it isn’t true.
“Donations from the names that were mentioned have not occurred, don’t exist… in our accounts.”
In the documentary those names are bleeped out.
Rival parties reported Reform to the police over claims by Channel 4 News that Reform took funding from a US firm for three polls it commissioned earlier this year, costing £32,500.
Foreign companies are not a permissible source of funding for parties, including for payments for studies and research, and accepting donations from them could constitute a criminal offence.
The Electoral Commission has said it is “considering all relevant information” and had contacted the Metropolitan Police.
Both Farage and Jukes have accused the reporters of “entrapment”.
Farage also sought to distance himself from Jukes and Orr, dismissing them as “contractors that work for us, who’ve said… some injudicious things at best”.
However, he acknowledged his close relationship with Jukes, who had been one of his long-serving aides.
Asked whether the loss of Jukes upset him, Farage told reporters: “I don’t like it at all. I’ve worked with Dan very closely for many, many years. Many, many years.”
Although a more recent addition to Reform’s team, Orr had been the party’s head of policy since February this year.
Farage made his comments at a press conference alongside French National Rally president Jordan Bardella after the pair had announced an agreement to co-operate on stopping small boat crossings in the Channel if their respective parties came to power.
