British police launch criminal investigation into Reform UK over foreign funding allegations

British police say they will carry out a criminal investigation into the populist Reform UK party following allegations made in a documentary that officials planned to break electoral law on foreign funding.

Reform, led by veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, denied any wrongdoing and a spokesman for the party said it would "fully cooperate" with the investigation.

London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement its detectives had assessed a number of "reports relating to donations and polling involving a political party" and had decided "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. As a result, these matters will form part of that ongoing investigation."

Hours before widening the investigation, the police announced they were going to be investigating allegations of breached donation rules.

Documentary alleges electoral law breaches

The undercover investigation, broadcast by Channel 4 during Reform's annual conference, was conducted by investigative group Verbatim, which said it spent a year speaking to officials in Reform about possible donations.

It made several allegations including that the party had broken electoral law by arranging for a foreign donor to pay for political polling.

It showed two senior officials in Reform — then head of policy James Orr and Mr Farage's former right-hand man, Dan Jukes — speaking about funding with a supposed US businessman and his British-based son, including conversations about a payment for three opinion polls commissioned by the party.

Posing as wealthy donors from the United States with British connections, the undercover reporters eventually had a lunch with Mr Farage who later told the BBC he was not listening to what was said.

Mr Farage, under investigation by a parliamentary watchdog about earlier donations, was forced to sack the close senior aides last week after the documentary aired.

On Friday, Reform launched an internal investigation and denied the allegations, saying the party had been the victim of a hoax perpetrated by climate activists.

Mr Farage described some of the comments as little more than "loose pub talk".

The widening of the criminal investigation piles pressure on Reform, whose commanding lead in opinion polls has faltered over other allegations, including a 5 million pound ($9.3 million) gift to Mr Farage, focus of the parliamentary probe.

Reform's annual conference last week, when Mr Farage wanted to set a vision for Reform's first 100 days in power if it wins the next national election, was overshadowed by the undercover investigation.

Instead of talking about a national election, which must be held by mid-2029 at the latest, Reform spent almost equal amounts of time either vigorously denying the accusations or trying to ignore them.

"We won't be commenting further while a live investigation is underway," the Reform spokesman said.