How a ‘dodgy money’ scandal hijacked Nigel Farage’s reset conference
The loss of Dan Jukes and James Orr from the populist leader's top team represents a major blow to a party that's trying to professionalize.
Reform UK party conference in Birmingham was set to be a moment for the party to "get serious" after a summer dominated by allegations of Nigel Farage failing to declare millions of pounds in donations. However, the event was hijacked by a new scandal involving two of the party's closest advisers, Dan Jukes and James Orr, who were shown to be involved in questionable donation practices.
Jukes, known as Farage's most loyal attack dog, and Orr, a Cambridge academic with deep links to the MAGA movement, were shown on undercover footage arranging funding from foreign benefactors to produce favorable polling. Despite insisting that Reform UK "has not broken any laws" and denying the presence of any "dodgy money", Jukes and Orr resigned pending an internal investigation. The party's mood was sullied, and the conference was described as a "sh*tshow".
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