Nigel Farage has insisted Reform UK has done “nothing wrong” after a sting operation raised questions over the party’s foreign donations.

Speaking just as Reform’s annual conference begins in Birmingham, the party leader tried to shrug off an explosive undercover report from Channel 4 News which has already caused two of his aides to step down.

Investigative journalists from Verbatim have accused the party of allegedly taking funding from a US company to commission three supposedly independent polls at £32,500 earlier this year.

Reform’s head of policy James Orr and Farage’s close aide Dan Jukes organised the donation. They were unaware the donors were actually undercover reporters from the investigative group Verbatim.

The journalists, 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.

Jukes allegedly proposed a way for them to work around the law by sending the US funds via the British son.

Farage spoke out for the first time about the investigation on Friday morning, telling LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: “The party has broken no laws. The party has not taken any dodgy money or anything like that whatsoever.”

He accused the reporters of “entrapment” after getting “a couple of our contractors to say things that perhaps should not have been said”.

The Clacton MP admitted: “I’m not happy about it.”

He also defended the polls themselves, saying: “There’s no question of illegality over the polling whatsoever.

“Whilst the poll benefited Reform, it wasn’t commissioned by Reform. It had nothing to do with Reform.”

He also claimed “the polling is not even an issue”, adding: “The party has not done anything wrong, but entrapped conversations don’t look good, and that’s why we’ve taken the action we have.”

On his top allies stepping down, Farage added: “The issue is when they talked about putting money in that might have come originally from America… But on the face of it, they said things that shouldn’t have been said.”

Reform UK has launched an internal investigation over the incident.

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Practical Magic 2 hasn’t even hit cinemas yet, but Sandra Bullock already has an idea for a third instalment.

The cult classic film’s star alluded to the possibility of a Practical Magic 3 in a new interview with Vanity Fair.

“We’ll do a number three if this takes off,” Sandra said, claiming a third movie would “pass the torch to the girls”, referencing her on-screen daughters Joey King and Maisie Williams, who play Kylie and Antonia Owens in the upcoming sequel.

Practical Magic 2, the follow-up to the 1998 autumnal favourite, brings back Sandra and Nicole Kidman as the magical Owens sisters, with Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest also returning as the guiding aunts who raised them.

However, this time around, Nicole and Sandra step into the role of advisers, with an official synopsis for the film teasing: “A multi-generational family of witches, cursed to be loveless for centuries, attempts to break the spell by confronting dark secrets and sacrificing for each other.”

Practical Magic 2 centres on Kylie and Antonia after they inherit the family’s magical legacy, unaware of the curse that comes with someone falling in love with them.

Sandra told People earlier this week that honouring generations of women inspired her and Nicole to return to the Owens’ family story.

“We forget that our mothers and grandmothers were young women with dreams and hopes and desires as well. And we never looked at them as human beings like that,” the Oscar winner explained.

“They were just Mom and Grandma. So in this, we get to look behind the curtain and go, ‘I didn’t know you felt that way, I didn’t know you were longing’.”

Sandra’s comments about any upcoming film focusing on the next generation come days after the original film’s Kylie Owens, Evan Rachel Wood, spoke out about being replaced by Joey King without being notified.

“I really appreciated Joey King reaching out to me, because no one who worked on the original film did,” Evan said in an Instagram story earlier this week. “She’s a sweetheart.”

Director Susanne Bier told Variety at the premiere earlier this week that replacing Evan with Joey wasn’t “a personal thing”.

“It was that the kids in the story are right out of college, and so it wasn’t really a question, you know? We had to recast,” she explained.

Practical Magic 2 releases in cinemas on 11 September

I don’t know about you but I’ve noticed a lot of spiders indoors of late – from the bulbous ones making Halloween-esque webs in my garage, to the smaller ones gracing each and every window frame, to the spindly lass who decided to have a billion babies in a suitcase under my bed (not a fun find).

Autumn is typically deemed peak spider season in the UK – that is, the time when spiders head indoors to find a mate and we see a lot more of them. But are there more this year? And did spider season happen upon us earlier than usual?

Professor Adam Hart, an ecologist, conservation scientist and entomologist at the University of Gloucestershire, told HuffPost UK: “There does seem to be a perception that ‘spider season’ has started slightly earlier this year, and anecdotally I’ve noticed house spiders appearing a little earlier myself.

“I’ve seen several over the last couple of weeks, whereas I’d normally expect them to become particularly noticeable around the beginning to middle of September.”

That said, he doesn’t think it’s “dramatically early” for them to be making an appearance in people’s homes.

“The spiders haven’t suddenly appeared or necessarily come into the house because autumn has arrived,” he added.

“Many house spiders live in and around our homes throughout the year. What changes in late summer and autumn is that adult males become much more mobile as they wander around looking for females, which is why we suddenly see these large spiders running across floors or becoming trapped in baths.”

We’ve also had a pretty hot summer which means windows will have been left open on repeat, giving spiders a free pass to head inside. Another reason why you might be seeing a lot more of them than usual.

Prof Hart noted preventing spiders is “much easier than trying to repel spiders once they’re inside”.

That said, he’s pretty sceptical of some of the more traditional spider deterrents (think conkers and peppermint oil) as there “isn’t convincing evidence that putting these around the home provides reliable protection against spiders”.

So, how can you prevent them from coming inside then? “If people really don’t want spiders entering the house, the most useful measures are physical ones: insect screens on open windows and doors, sealing obvious gaps around windows, doors and pipes, and using draught excluders where appropriate,” he said.

But it’s also worth remembering that spiders are beneficial predators. “They feed on flies and many of the other small invertebrates that share our homes, so if a spider is living unobtrusively somewhere, leaving it alone is often the easiest option,” he added.

Not everyone is enthralled by the prospect of sharing their home with spiders, so if you do spot one, the best way to get it outside again is with a glass and a piece of card.

“Put a glass or other container gently over the spider, slide a piece of reasonably stiff card underneath and carry it somewhere suitable,” said Prof Hart.

“There are also some useful spider-removal products you can buy and their long handles often make them easier to use if you really aren’t keen on spiders.”

If you spot a big old house spider in your home, he suggests popping it in a shed, garage or other sheltered location “because these spiders are strongly associated with buildings and sheltered environments”.

And if you find one in your bath, it’s not necessarily because it’s climbed up your plughole Incy Wincy-style. “Spiders generally fall into baths and then can’t climb the smooth sides. You can remove it with a glass and card, or simply provide something such as a towel over the side that it can climb up,” added the expert.

If your home is particularly appealing to spiders, you might spot the odd egg sac knocking around too. “Firstly, don’t panic. An egg sac doesn’t necessarily mean you’re about to have hundreds of large spiders running around the house,” continued Prof Hart.

“Different species have very different reproductive cycles and the spiderlings that emerge are tiny and disperse.”

If the sac is somewhere unobtrusive, he suggests there’s no need to do anything with it. But if you genuinely don’t want it inside, he recommends “carefully moving it, ideally with the female if she is obviously guarding it, to a sheltered location such as a shed, garage or outbuilding, rather than destroying it”.

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.

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

Despite no end of speculation as to whether or not he’d be returning, it’s now been confirmed that Tom Hardy will, in fact, be appearing in the forthcoming third season of MobLand after all.

Last year, Tom made his debut as fixer Harry Da Souza in the Paramount+ crime drama, sharing the screen with Dame Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan.

However, in the lead-up to season two’s release, it was initially reported over the summer that the Oscar nominee had parted ways with the show, amid supposed behind-the-scenes tension.

Following this, conflicting reports downplayed this speculation, with bosses finally confirming on Thursday evening that season three will be moving forward – with Tom still part of the cast.

Dame Helen had previously defended her co-star, insisting she’d work with him again in a “heartbeat” despite their “different” creative “processes” on set.

She enthused: “I love Tom. I think he’s the most amazing actor.”

Before the wheels start turning on season three, though, there’s MobLand’s second offering to get out of the way first.

The next episodes of the popular gangster series will begin streaming on Paramount+ later this month, with an official synopsis teasing: “In season two, the Harrigans struggle to show a unified front as rising rivals threaten their fractured criminal empire – and Harry Da Souza, their street-smart and formidable ‘fixer,’ must walk a dangerous tightrope when tensions within the family intensify.

“As violence spills into every corner of their lives, loyalties snap, safety proves temporary, and the battle for power leaves no room for mercy.”

Janet McTeer, Joanne Froggatt, Johnny Flynn, Mandeep Dhillon, Paddy Considine and Toby Jones are among the actors who will also be making appearances in season two.

Take a look at the trailer for MobLand season two – which will premiere on Friday 18 September – below: