2 Reform Officials Step Down After Undercover Sting Operation

Two Reform UK officials have stepped down after an undercover sting operation raised questions over foreign donations, according to Lee Anderson.

The party chair told Sky News that Reform’s head of policy James Orr and Nigel Farage’s close aide Dan Jukes have both quit following an explosive report from Verbatim.

As first reported by Channel 4 News, Farage’s party took funding from a US company to commission three supposedly independent polls at £32,500 earlier this year.

Orr and Jukes organised the donation. They were not aware the donors were actually undercover reporters from the investigative group Verbatim.

The reporters, posing as an American father and his British son “William Lockwood”, also suggested donating £500,000 to Reform UK.

British electoral law says political donations can only be made by someone eligible to vote in the UK or a UK-registered company.

The party denied any wrongdoing and called the whole operation a “hoax”.

The incident has been reported to the Metropolitan Police who are assessing the reports.

Anderson told Sky News: “The two men involved, James Orr and Dan Jukes, they’ve stepped down from their roles, they’ve stepped away. It’s only fair now we launch a full internal investigation.”

He said the party would remain “fair, open and transparent” while looking into what happened.

“It’s right to get rid of this distraction straight away,” Anderson added, as Reform prepares to open its annual party conference in Birmingham today.

He added that there was “no chance” of the two men coming back as Reform is a “serious party”.

When asked if more senior staff, such as party leader Farage, should take responsibility, Anderson said it “wouldn’t be fair” for him to comment until “the investigation is completely over”.

However, the party chair was unable to say who is leading the internal probe when speaking to other broadcasters.

He also told BBC Breakfast: “We have spoken to our KC which advised no laws have been broken.

“Reform UK has launched an internal investigation to see what we can only describe as far left agitators have got that close to the party to make this documentary.

“One of the other questions we are asking is how is this funded?”

Verbatim, founded by the Centre for Climate Reporting and is funded out of the United States.

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