The FT reported this morning that:
Nigel Farage has been implicated in an undercover sting that alleges that his Reform UK party knowingly sought illegal funding from overseas.
They added:
Channel 4 News broadcast a 30-minute film on Thursday night, with extensive footage of Farage, his right-hand man Dan Jukes, and Reform's head of policy James Orr in conversations with a man purporting to arrange illicit political donations.
I am sure the story will be covered elsewhere in the media, and it is not my job, therefore, to recount the gory details.
Instead, I want to note something else. This story is, of course, part of a trend. Time and again, suggestions are emerging about Farage's finances, and those of his party. These are, at the very least, confusing, and what we know without doubt is that he has used funding from sources outside the UK linked to activities that many might think undesirable, whilst nothing illegal is involved. This raises serious questions.
Farage would like to present himself as a man of the people, standing up against the establishment, fighting the brave fight on behalf of those who would otherwise not have their voice heard. And yet, what is apparent is that he is anything but this.
Not only does he make money personally from selling products like gold, but his lifestyle, funding, and lack of willingness to discuss his arrangements in a way that is now normally expected of politicians all suggest an aversion to accountability that implies his façade might hide a deeper truth, which many who have supported him might be uncomfortable with.
What is the chink in his armour? It is that he might be seen to be the exact opposite of what he claims to be.
Far from being intensely pro-British, he is very inclined to seek funding for his activities from outside this country.
Far from being a man of the people, his capacity to spend puts him in a league that very few can really imagine.
And, far from challenging the status quo and the power elite, as he would like to represent, he is in fact so heavily dependent upon some of the more questionable parts of the architecture of international finance that his own survival seems to be entirely embedded in the systems that so many have questioned, from offshore tax planning to the use of tax havens, and so much more.
Farage undoubtedly remains a threat, but it is not true to say that Farage is his own worst enemy. I do not think he will beat himself. I do, however, think he can be beaten.
If it were possible to persuade people that Farage is not on their side, but is in fact part of the hierarchy of power that is keeping them in their place, and which denies them the chance that they need, his allure would fade very quickly. I am not saying that will be easy. But I am saying that will be possible.
Farage has a weak underbelly, which is that he might, after all, be a fake. In other words, he is not what he claims to be. If that were true, he would not be the answer to the problems that so many people in this country rightly think exist.
And let me be clear, by saying we need to beat Farage, I am not saying that we should tolerate the injustice which around 30% of this country now clearly feel about the way in which they have been treated by the UK's political, economic and financial elite, which has left them feeling alienated from society.
What I am saying is that we have the chance to show that Farage is not the answer to their concerns, which he is revealing of his own volition. What these people need to do then is to look elsewhere, which is to a genuine left-of-centre alternative that might provide the answers they desire. It is only by really tackling inequality that the problems that people in this country face will be solved.
Farage has no interest in doing that. That is why, ultimately, he will never succeed, but bringing that realisation forward is something we should all desire.
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I’ve long thought that the money would be Farage’s downfall. The ciggie and pint cosplay will have drawn in many of the same people who thought Johnson was a laugh instead of a liability. It’s much harder to play humble Nige from the Pint and Racist when people keep driving lorry loads of money to your house. For his opponents, it’s more effective than pursuing the racist angle, simply because too many people who support his outfit like the racism.
I can’t avoid asking the “cui bono?” question about Fa***e’s potential political demise.
And the answer seems to be, the thoroughly neoliberal racist corruptly funded Labour right, who call the USA & Israel allies.
Which is why, much as we might cheer as Fa***e’s nasty smug grifting image crumbles, that musn’t be an excuse to let LINO help our “allies” subject us to yet another decade of neoliberal global destruction.
In my library ePress copy of the Jewish Chronicle this morning, “senior MPs” (the Labour ones, of course, are not named) are urging the PM to “listen to the Chief Rabbi”, and hold back on settlement sanctions. The USA is also threatening us with anti-BDS retaliation if we impose further sanctions.
https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/listen-to-the-chief-rabbi-dont-sanction-israel-mps-urge-burnham-s5qkxyd1
I wonder what sovereignty feels like?
I’ve forgotten, almost
Robert, I clicked on the link and read that the MPs feel sanctions might fuel hostility to UK Jews.
It is not right to target people here for the actions of a govt elsewhere, even if they appear to approve. There is a growing of anti-Semitic actions but the cause is mainly the breaches of international law by Israel. We also know many Jewish people are also opposed, which the Chief Rabbi seems to ignore.
My response is that many of us who want sanctions are being ignored. Justice demands it is applied to all. If I had connections with the people of the region, I would also feel that my opinions and my people counted for less. That is also divisive.
I go on some US websites and see the restrictions on American citizens from participating in the BDS movement is causing a lot of opposition.
Agreed. The major force conflating the interests of Israel with diaspora Jewry, is Israel, the Chief Rabbi and the BOD. That conflation, is of course, antisemitic. It also suits Israel’s interests when diaspora Jews are attacked.
: Richard Tice said Reform “have a KC’s opinion saying no rules have been broken… I believe Channel 4 have broken the rules with entrapment.”
it will be interesting to see how this unfolds..
Sorry, I’m very disappointed with this post.
My heart rose when I read the title because I thought that you were inviting us to go around to his house or something and er…invite him out for er…. some corporal punishment that he did not get at Dulwich College.
Oh well.
PSR….behave yourself
Yeah, I know, sorry.
You are forgiven. 15 Hail Marys. Not that I have a clue what they are. My father quit the Catholics.
You’d think anyone with two brain cells to rub together would assume Farage and Reform are now toast, after last night’s eye opener, but Reform supporters and brain matter don’t belong in the same sentence. And what does 30p Lee offer up this morning by way of defence/explanation – he asks where the funding to make the program came from!!!
The worrying thing for me is that you could have probably pulled the same sting on the other main parties. Surely the time has come to outlaw political donations. Also, bearing in mind the use of some of the money for polls to influence elections, we may like to consider banning them in election run ups.
I hope the Guinness and oysters were worth it.
Go back over a decade, and see Cambridge Analytica fixing African elections (trial runs) then manipulating very granular targeting of surveilled profiled electors using Facebook algorithms in 2016 US elections and the UK Brexit referendum.
https://www.law.com/corpcounsel/2026/08/31/meta-quietly-resolves-cambridge-analytica-claims-as-part-of-child-safety-settlement/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/cambridge-analytica-files
Makes Fa***e look like an innocent choirboy. Then there’s the covertly financed Labour Together/LabourLink machine run by Burnham facilitator, disgraced ex-Makerfield MP Josh Simons…
That’s why I haven’t voted Labour since 2019, and wouldn’t now, even to keep Fa***e out.
I am in the same position basically Michael J – I will not legitimize Blue Labour.
I had a fantastic hour or so with my local dealer on Friday – er…book dealer that is, who specializes in railway books – old and new (I got my hands on 3 of Michael McMahon’s ‘Irish Railrover’ books mostly about CIE in the diesel locomotive age – marvellous stuff – well for me anyway).
‘Said book dealer felt that Burnt-Meat needed to be given a chance because his biggest concern was letting Farage/Restore Blighty through the door and there was nothing he hated more than the Right. Having to attend book fairs around the country and hear customers spouting off about immigrants and the second coming that is Farage and not being able to tell them to ‘eff off (not good for business) had made him like that unfortunately so I sympathised with his view. It was one of the rare moments where you are in the company of someone who shares your views (mostly).
He was also looking for a part time job in book selling – attending book fairs where some events wanted at least a £2000 entrance fee to put up a stand plus hotel bills etc., was causing him problems. He is not even a railway enthusiast – he just loves books!! But the economy is doing this fine human and many like him being no favours at all.
Email me who he is, so I can support him, please.
A view from ‘Ahint the Wa’: I watched the Channel 4 News last night and had precisely the same thought, Kevin. The ‘sting’ could have been applied to Labour and Conservative parties and nobody would have been surprised. Westminster’s lobbying & funding rules are scandalously ineffective and should have been tightened decades ago. The failure to do so has resulted in widespread complacency across the public and media.
In Scotland, the recent scandal of Peter Murrell’s thefts from the SNP might never have happened if the SNP had had sensible internal rules forbidding family or married members from simultaneous controlling positions of ‘front of house’ and ‘back of house’ management. The vast bulk of the media in Scotland (some 95%) as well as most of the opposition parties in Holyrood are London-owned/controlled and they wasted no time in putting the boot in. That was entirely expected, as was the “pot calling the kettle black” view of the pro-Independence public.
Much to agree with
Only a half-wit cannot see through Nigel’s mirage, and if that opinion makes me sound like some kind of elitist intellectual genius standing head and shoulders above a significant fraction of the British population I will have to live with that, even whilst I very vehemently don’t believe it of myself.
I can’t for the life of me imagine how anyone would consider themselves a serious politician and then say “hey my friend gave me 5m and I bought a house: what’s wrong with that? ”
The sting was serious enough that the only reason he might not be facing jail time is that the agreement to receive £500k in funding improperly did not result in actually receiving that funding. He conspired to commit an offence.
If Reform collapses under this and other scandals, then I don’t think that many will switch to Restore – their support might increase to 5% or so, but they don’t present a facade of respectability to enable enough to ignore the clear racism. Instead, I think that the Conservative party may benefit in polling.
Meanwhile, Labour should take their current better polling and clear weakness on the right as an opportunity to shift to the left. I do think they’re leaning in that direction, but we know much more needs to be done.
I’m an optimist, though. I hope the ‘the emperor has no clothes’ situation Farage finds himself in, combined with a positive economic impact from the small cost of living changes announced, enables further movement in that direction. That will be the true test of Burnham seeing whether what he’s done is first steps on a path or not.
Meanwhile, I wish Polanski well in the by-election – if Greens take Starmer’s former seat then this will also amplify the voice on the left and pull Labour in that direction.
My hope is that this is the last we see of the obnoxious James Orr, and that Cambridge rid itself of him.
Hear hear ‘re James Orr,sinister figure. Did you see exposure of him in Byline Times? No reaction to it in MSM, I think. Links to Thiel at al.
I did
And the FT featured him last week…
Are they embarrassed now? I doubt it.
Maybe James Orr could make the matter the focus of an essay title, “Electoral Law and political funding – how far should a professing Christian covertly bend electoral law in a modern Western liberal democracy? Discuss with reference to Jesus’ challenge to religious leaders, in Luke 11:37-54.”
Will Cambridge suspend Professor Orr, pending an inquiry? That would be interesting. This is more serious than alleged plagiarism. This is alleged criminality. Ooops.
Much to agree with
Check out “Reform are not your friends” on Facebook for a never-ending stream of examples of Reform’s hypocrisy, lies and corruption.