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LONDON: British police said Wednesday that they have opened a criminal investigation into allegations that anti-immigration party Reform UK broke rules barring foreign donations.<\/p>\n
Last week, Channel 4 broadcast an undercover investigation in which two senior Reform UK officials appeared to discuss ways money from an American financier could be channeled through his U.K.-based son to get around the rules.<\/p>\n
U.K. electoral law says parties can only accept donations from British voters or U.K.-registered businesses.<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan Police said that after the broadcast, the force \u201creceived a number of reports relating to donations and polling involving a political party.<\/p>\n
\u201cDetectives have assessed the information provided and determined that there are potential offenses requiring investigation,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Reform UK said it \u201cdenies any wrongdoing and will fully cooperate with the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The party suspended Dan Jukes, a longtime adviser to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, and party policy chief James Orr, after the documentary was aired. But Farage denied that there was any breach of electoral law.<\/p>\n
The program showed two men purporting to be a U.S. financier and his U.K.-based son discussing with Jukes, in the presence of Farage, how 500,000 pounds ($675,000) could be donated to the party through the son. The \u201cson\u201d was actually a reporter from investigative group Verbatim, and the \u201cfather\u201d an actor.<\/p>\n
In separate footage, Orr, a Cambridge University theologian, appeared to discuss getting the U.S. donor to pay for opinion polls commissioned by Reform UK.<\/p>\n
In a speech to the party\u2019s conference on Friday, Farage insisted Reform UK hadn\u2019t broken any rules or accepted \u201cdodgy money.\u201d He accused \u201cforeign-funded hard-left activists\u201d of being behind what he called \u201centrapment.\u201d Verbatim is an offshoot of the Center for Climate Reporting, a nonprofit investigative group that says it\u2019s funded by grants and donations.<\/p>\n
Reform UK was facing questions about its funding even before the broadcast. Farage is being investigated by Parliament\u2019s standards watchdog over an undeclared 5 million-pound ($6.7 million) gift he received from a Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire in 2024.<\/p>\n
Police said Wednesday that the potential offenses raised by the TV program \u201care similar in nature to matters already under investigation by the Met\u2019s Special Enquiry Team relating to donations made to the same political party. As a result, these matters will form part of that ongoing investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Founded in 2018 as the Brexit Party to push for a hard break from the European Union, Reform UK has grown rapidly in membership and support since changing its name in 2021 and honing its anti-establishment, anti-immigration message.<\/p>\n
Though it holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, it has often led opinion polls and was the big winner in local elections in May, a result that helped spur a panicky Labour Party to replace then-leader Keir Starmer with new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.<\/p>\n
In July, Farage quit his House of Commons seat in protest of the parliamentary standards investigation, saying he would run for reelection and let voters be his judge. He easily won the August election, which was dismissed as a stunt by his critics and boycotted by all the other main parties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n