Secret filming catches Farage praising hidden poll cash

Channel 4 News has published an investigation alleging that Nigel Farage and two senior Reform UK figures were filmed by undercover reporters discussing and welcoming secretly funded political polling paid for through a US-registered company, and a former chief executive of the Electoral Commission has said there should be a criminal investigation.

The broadcaster, working from material gathered by Verbatim, a group of investigative journalists, alleges that James Orr, Reform UK's head of policy, and Dan Jukes, whom Channel 4 News describes as a close aide to Mr Farage, arranged for the company to pay £32,500 for three polls the party had commissioned from the research firm JL Partners. The company was in fact set up and controlled by Verbatim.

The allegations land while Reform UK's finances are already under scrutiny from the Metropolitan Police, over separate donations made before the 2024 general election, and from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. They were published on the same day the Electoral Commission released quarterly donation figures showing the party raised £5.3 million between April and June, £4 million of it from the crypto investor Ben Delo, according to Reuters and Bloomberg.

Channel 4 News approached Reform UK, Mr Farage, Mr Orr and Mr Jukes for comment. It reported: "They did not comment but we understand they deny the allegations in full." That is the broadcaster's characterisation of a position it says was not put on the record; no public statement from the party responding to the investigation has been issued.

No regulator, prosecuting authority or court has made any finding against Mr Farage, Mr Orr, Mr Jukes or Reform UK in relation to the polling payments. The underlying recordings have not been published, and the central allegation rests on that material, which Channel 4 News says its journalists have thoroughly checked and verified.

According to the broadcaster, Mr Farage met the undercover team over oysters and wine in his Clacton constituency in late July, believing them to be a wealthy American and his UK-based son, "William Lockwood". Channel 4 News reports that Mr Farage described the polling as "amazing" and said it provided "bang for buck", adding: "It worked. Boom."

When the conversation turned to a larger donation, the broadcaster says one of the undercover team made clear the UK-based son would be the declared donor even though the money originated with his American father — an arrangement Channel 4 News states would be illegal. It reports that Mr Farage replied "thank you" and then "both of you, thank you", and separately said "it's all above board". The proposed £500,000 donation was never made.

The three polls were all published at the time without any reference to Reform UK. A JL Partners survey of areas where council elections were being postponed appeared on the front page of the Telegraph on 17 January under the headline "Labour would face wipeout if elections went ahead", and cost £18,000, according to Channel 4 News. A poll reported by the Telegraph on 10 April under the headline "Two thirds of voters want Starmer out" cost £4,500, and one carried on the front page of the Times on 1 June, headlined "Reform vote in unions at same level as Labour", cost £10,000.

The Times poll of trade union members, which put Reform and Labour level on 28 per cent, was widely reported and promoted by Reform UK on its own website. The Times told Channel 4 News it "was not made aware of Reform's involvement in commissioning and arranging payment of the poll". Other coverage at the time described the survey as carried out by JL Partners for the Times.

Channel 4 News reports that Mr Orr told the undercover reporter in January there would be "nothing untoward" about him paying for polling, but added: "I wouldn't breathe a word of this to anybody". At that stage, the broadcaster says, Mr Orr said Mr Farage would not know about it. The day before the Clacton meeting, according to Channel 4 News, Mr Orr said Mr Farage was "aware of the support" but did not go into the "weeds".

Discussing a later, near-identical scheme, Mr Orr is reported to have said: "if there was any way of seeing it, it would technically be a donation-in-kind", adding: "Is anybody gonna find out? Am I gonna tell anyone… obviously not, so the reality is we could easily get away with it." He described the Electoral Commission as "completely useless" and "so dumb and ineffective", the broadcaster says. That particular plan did not proceed.

Mr Jukes is reported to have called the arrangement "highly important", relatively good value for money "and they don't show up anywhere in public records", adding: "Those little clandestine projects are so valuable." At a Reform UK reception he introduced the undercover reporter as "key donor for off the book project", according to Channel 4 News.

Bob Posner, a lawyer and former chief executive of the Electoral Commission, was shown the key findings. He told the broadcaster the facilitation of payments for polls was "shocking" and that "from what I've seen it was commissioned by the party, it was polling for the party and hiding it means they're hiding a donation". He added: "[it's] against the law and the evasion of the rules, the attempt of evasion of rules, to take actions to further evasion of the rules, these are serious criminal offences."

Mr Posner said Mr Farage had "quite difficult questions to answer", adding: "He appears to be aware of what's happening and he appears to be aware that it's a means of getting round the rules, of avoiding the rules on donations and that's of serious concern."

Under electoral law, only permissible donors — broadly, UK-registered companies and voters on the electoral register — may give to political parties, and donations include payments meeting a party's costs, such as research. Impermissible donations must be reported to the Electoral Commission and returned within 30 days; Commission guidance states that retaining one beyond that point is a criminal offence carrying a fine and up to a year in prison, with the sum liable to forfeiture. Donations from permissible donors worth more than £11,180 in a calendar year must be declared.

An Electoral Commission spokesperson said: "Information about any potential attempt to evade the controls on donations is for the police to consider."

The British Polling Council, whose members must publicly declare who commissioned their polls, said: "From the information provided to us by Channel 4 News, it appears there may have been deliberate breaches of this rule. We will be seeking further information from the BPC member concerned."

A JL Partners spokesperson said: "Despite there being no concern about the accuracy of our work, the report did reveal weaknesses in our procedures. For that reason JL Partners is reviewing those procedures in order to eliminate possible grey areas and ambiguities and strengthen our safeguards for the future."

A spokesperson for Telegraph Media Group said: "We are reviewing our future relationship with this polling company, as we believe we have been misled. As a matter of precaution we have suspended the relevant articles while The British Polling Council conducts a review."

Channel 4 News says the undercover work was carried out by Verbatim, which it describes as independent of the broadcaster and founded by journalists from the Centre for Climate Reporting, and that it did not pay for the polling and paid no money to Verbatim or any associated company.

Mr Farage was re-elected as MP for Clacton on 13 August with 22,239 votes, having resigned the seat in July amid scrutiny of his finances. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards opened an inquiry on 13 May into whether he should have declared £5 million received from the crypto-currency billionaire Christopher Harborne in 2024. Mr Farage has said the money was an "unconditional gift" for personal security that did not require declaration, and on resigning said: "I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law in any way at all."