Politics Home | Business Leaders Left Disappointed By Reform UK Conference After “Disaster” Dinner And Donations Row

Members of the Reform Party watch Jeremy Kyle interview Nigel Farage at the Reform UK conference, Birmingham, September 2026 (Credit: SOPA Images Limited/Alamy Live News)

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Business leaders said they had been left “unimpressed” with Reform UK’s engagement at the conference, with one saying they felt “talked at, not conversed with”.

One business source said they “couldn’t find a single Reform person” throughout the business day. 

Stakeholders from the business world are keen to establish relationships with Reform and understand its key policies as it continues to position itself as the next party of government.

But some said they left the Birmingham conference on Saturday questioning how much the party still values its relationship with business.

“It was very, very difficult for business to network,” the same source said. “There were two or three networking receptions at the end of the day which turned out not to exist.”

Reform UK is engulfed in a row over allegations that it broke UK electoral rules via donations from foreign actors.

A report broadcast by Channel 4 on Thursday appeared to show Reform leader Nigel Farage and close allies discussing a potential £500,000 donation and the acceptance of over £30,000 for “off-the-books” polling.

Reform has now suspended its head of policy, James Orr, and Dan Jukes, a close aide of Farage, and launched an internal investigation into the matter.

Business leaders said the row had cast a shadow over the conference – made worse by a business dinner on Thursday evening, held an hour after the report aired, that was described by one attendee as a “disaster”.

Billed at £395 plus VAT a head, the business dinner at Reform’s conference had been sold as a “rare opportunity to engage directly with key figures” from the party.

Guests were promised “dedicated time for meaningful, high-level conversation” with senior Reform figures and that each table would include two senior members of Reform.

But several attendees told PoliticsHome that their tables had no Reform representatives and that they received no engagement from the representatives at the dinner. 

“If you don’t have enough party advisers, council leaders or politicians to host a table, don’t sell me a ticket. I was sat next to an empty chair and nobody from the party did the rounds. A little bit more would have gone a long way, but this was a high cost that will be avoided in future,” one senior consultant told PoliticsHome. 

Reform has disputed these claims, insisting that 30 of the 31 tables included a party representative.

A business source told PoliticsHome that the experience had been particularly disappointing given the amount businesses had paid to attend, and another claimed that guests who arrived just five minutes late were turned away and refused entry to the dinner.

There were also complaints about the entertainment, with attendees saying the band playing was so loud that it was difficult to hear conversations at their tables. One attendee said the experience was best summed up by the water, describing it as tasting “like chlorine”. 

“If that’s how they run a conference day for business, I don’t know how they’re going to run an entire country,” a business source said.

Another complained that the conference was a “shitshow”, citing scheduling delays on Friday and a chaotic registration process at the entrance.

A businessman attending the conference told PoliticsHome that they were “bitterly disappointed” and that, if Reform were a business instead of a political party, it would have “gone under long ago”. 

Complainants reported being so disappointed by the experience that they had resolved not to attend next year.

Another consultant said one of their clients who attended the dinner had already decided to scale back their involvement next year, opting to send junior representatives from the business instead.

Gawain Towler, a member of Reform’s governing board, was asked by PoliticsHome about the complaints by businesspeople.

“I didn’t get that feedback, so it’s hard to respond,” he said. “Say that is the case. It’s the first time we have done it. Next year, it will be better because we learn. We never learn from being perfect. You learn from making mistakes.”

Responding to the complaints, a Reform spokesman said: “At this year’s inaugural Business Day Dinner we hosted almost 400 people who had the opportunity to network with Reform politicians and staff as well as hear from party leader Nigel Farage who declared that the door was open to business. 

“We have had overwhelming feedback from attendees and have received no official complaints about the event but are sorry to hear second-hand that some guests experienced issues.”

Additional reporting by Zoe Crowther and Matilda Martin