UK far-right party rallies behind Nigel Farage after new foreign donation scandal

BIRMINGHAM: British far-right leader Nigel Farage sought to play down a fresh donations scandal Friday sparked by an undercover sting operation that overshadowed his Reform UK party's annual conference.

Farage had been hoping to use the gathering to move on from damaging controversies over financial gifts by setting out the policies of any future Reform government, including cooperation with France's anti-immigrant National Rally (RN) party.

But just hours before Farage's keynote address, two senior Reform officials resigned following an investigation aired by Channel 4 News.

The report included undercover footage that showed the party discussing steps to secure a foreign donation -- banned under UK electoral law.

Reform said in a statement that policy head James Orr and Farage's longtime aide Dan Jukes had stepped down from their roles pending the outcome of an internal probe into the sting.

The ruling Labour party was among rival parties to say they had reported Reform to police over claims it took funding from a US firm for three opinion polls it commissioned earlier this year.

The purported donors were in fact undercover reporters for investigative journalism group Verbatim.

'Entrapment'

Speaking to reporters, Farage dismissed suggestions that Reform had previously taken disguised foreign donations as "loose pub talk" but acknowledged that comments by Orr and Jukes in the footage were "injudicious at best".

In his keynote address to a packed conference hall, a defiant Farage condemned the undercover filming as a "prolonged exercise in entrapment".

"The party has done nothing wrong. The party has taken no illegal money," he said to cheers and applause from the floor.

Attendees at the conference in the central English city of Birmingham also played down the allegations.

"I just think they (opponents) are so worried about Reform, it's attack, attack, attack all the time," 62-year-old nurse Heather Kynman told AFP.

Darren Ball, another delegate, predicted the furore would not knock Reform's prospects. "Reform is the only party that can save this country. Immigration is a huge thing for the UK. It needs to be addressed," said the 51-year-old. who works in security.

The party's main focus is its anti-immigration policies, in particular ending the arrival of thousands of irregular migrants by small boat on England's southern coast.

Setting out the party's pledges on immigration, home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf told the conference a Reform government would "deploy the Royal Navy to stop the boats" and "remove every foreign national who entered this country illegally".

The conference was also addressed by Jordan Bardella, president of France's far-right National Rally party.

He promised that under a National Rally government France would no longer be the "gateway for illegal immigration into the UK".

He and Farage announced a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on the issue should their parties each win power.

Britain's centre-left Labour government has said the number of boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers across the Channel was the lowest this summer since 2019, in part because of existing cooperation deals with the French government.

Firebrand Farage has been seeking to regain the momentum that saw Reform chalk up significant success at May local elections.

Security was tight at the conference centre but Farage's speech to conference was repeatedly interrupted by shouting protesters who were booed as they were removed by security.

During a speech by Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice a climate protest banner depicting Farage in a top hat and reading "Collect £5 million, burn the planet" appeared for several minutes before being taken down.

Tice is also facing allegations that he failed to declare financial gifts.

Several delegates wore Union Jack clothing while one man roamed around dressed as medieval king Richard the Lionheart.

"It's appropriate because he fought for the right thing, like Farage," said 62-year-old historical re-enactor Chris Luck, dressed in a red cloak, chain mail balaclava and crown.