Farage to Close Annual Conference Overshadowed by Irregular Funding Allegations

Nigel Farage will take the stage in Birmingham on Saturday to close Reform UK’s annual conference, but the party’s biggest gathering so far has been overshadowed by allegations about its finances.

Farage is due to speak to delegates at about 4 p.m., after economy spokesman Robert Jenrick and education spokeswoman Suella Braverman. Both are prominent Conservative lawmakers who switched parties in January. Farage, who co-founded Reform in 2018 as the Brexit Party, is expected to try to restore optimism among the party’s supporters.

The controversy intensified after Channel 4 disclosed allegations on Thursday. Dan Jukes, an adviser to Farage, and James Orr, the party’s head of policy and a Cambridge University professor, were suspended after an undercover recording appeared to show them proposing ways to facilitate donations from abroad, potentially breaching British law.

Farage also faces a parliamentary investigation over his failure to declare a £5 million gift from cryptocurrency businessman Christopher Harborne before the 2024 general election. Police are separately examining whether donations made by aristocrat Fiona Cottrell in 2024 actually came from her son, George Cottrell, a former Farage associate who served a prison sentence in the United States for financial crimes and lives abroad.

The disputes have come as Reform’s polling position has weakened. After leading voting intentions for more than a year, the party lost first place following Andy Burnham’s replacement of Keir Starmer as prime minister on July 20. A More in Common poll published Tuesday put Reform third on 22%, behind Labour on 26% and the Conservatives on 23%. Farage said on Friday that Reform had received no “illegal money” and denied breaking the law. French National Rally leader Jordan Bardella also addressed the conference, highlighting the British party’s links with Europe’s radical right.

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Illegal money