The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it is carrying out a criminal investigation into potential offences under party funding law after an undercover Channel 4 News broadcast about donations to Reform UK, the force said on Wednesday.
Detectives have folded the new allegations into an investigation by the Met's Special Enquiry Team that has been running since February 2025 into donations made to the same political party. Reform UK said it "denies any wrongdoing and will fully cooperate with the investigation."
The decision marks a shift from the force's position last week, when it said only that it would assess the matter. It brings the party's finances under criminal scrutiny on two fronts at once, at a point when Reform is the largest recipient of reportable political donations in the United Kingdom.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, a Met spokesman said: "Following a broadcast by Channel 4 News on Thursday, September 3, the Met received a number of reports relating to donations and polling involving a political party.
"Detectives have assessed the information provided and determined that there are potential offences requiring investigation.
"The potential offences are similar in nature to matters already under investigation by the Met's Special Enquiry Team relating to donations made to the same political party."
The statement added: "As a result, these matters will form part of that ongoing investigation.
"All allegations under investigation relate to potential offences under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000."
Detectives are also seeking the broadcaster's material. "As part of enquiries, detectives are seeking to obtain relevant footage relating to the broadcast on Thursday, September 3," the force said. "Detectives continue to liaise closely with the Electoral Commission and Crown Prosecution Service as enquiries progress."
The Met's statement does not name Reform UK, and it names no individual. No arrest or charge has been announced in connection with the September allegations.
The investigation follows a film broadcast on 3 September by Channel 4 News and Verbatim, a group of investigative journalists. According to Channel 4 News, James Orr, the party's head of policy, and Dan Jukes, a close aide to Nigel Farage, "arranged for a US company to fund three influential polls that the party had commissioned". The broadcaster said the polls cost £32,500 in total, that two of them helped galvanise support for the party before the local elections in May, and that the public was not told Reform UK had commissioned them.
Channel 4 News said the supposed donors behind the US company were an undercover team posing as a wealthy American and his UK-based son. It said Farage met the team over oysters and wine in his Clacton constituency in late July.
Under electoral law, parties may accept donations only from British voters or UK-registered businesses, and payments for studies and research on a party's behalf can count as donations in kind. The Electoral Commission says parties must report all permissible donations they accept worth more than £11,180 and all impermissible donations over £500.
Farage, the Reform UK leader and MP for Clacton, rejected the allegations at a press conference on 4 September. "Make no mistake, this was an exercise in entrapment," he said. He added: "Let me be clear, the party has done nothing wrong, taken no illegal money. In fact, no money was taken at all."
Reform UK said on the night of the broadcast that it had been "the target of a hoax perpetuated by foreign-funded, climate change activists posing as would-be party donors", and that it had "a robust vetting process for prospective donors approved by the Electoral Commission". The regulator contradicted that account the following day, stating on its website: "The Electoral Commission has not approved the donor vetting process for Reform, or any other party."
Jukes and Orr left their roles on 4 September pending the outcome of an internal party investigation. Lee Anderson, the Reform UK chairman, said of the pair: "They have left the building and they won't be coming back." In a video posted to his X account, Orr said "no money reached Reform UK at all", adding: "It was a public poll arranged by an independent person paying an independent pollster, and those polls were published immediately for the general public."
The Liberal Democrats and Labour both wrote to the Met last week asking for an investigation. Lisa Smart, the Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson, said in her letter that the arrangement would constitute "a clear breach of section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act".
The pre-existing inquiry into which the new allegations have been merged began in February 2025 after a referral from the Electoral Commission, and concerns donations made ahead of the 2024 general election. A Met spokesperson said in July that detectives were examining alleged offences under section 61 of the same Act and that two people had been interviewed under caution. That strand includes two donations of £250,000 given to Reform by Britain Means Business, a fundraising vehicle controlled by the party's deputy leader, Richard Tice.
Reform UK said on Wednesday: "We won't be commenting further while a live investigation is under way."
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