'I wasn't even listening': Farage defends lunch where Reform discussed accepting foreign money

Nigel Farage has defended appearing at a lunch where he was secretly filmed appearing to discuss accepting foreign money for his party by saying he “frankly wasn’t listening” to the conversation. Mr Farage and his former chief of staff Dan Jukes were filmed talking with an undercover reporter, posing as a US donor, about giving £500,000 to Reform through his UK-based son.Asked about the scandal, the Reform UK leader told the BBC: “I am not a compliance officer. I was in the middle of canvassing in the Clacton by-election. I turn up. “I frankly wasn't even listening.”He added that he was only at the lunch “to come and say hello”.Nigel Farage and his former chief of staff Dan Jukes were filmed talking with an undercover reporterVerbatim/Channel 4 News“I was told there was a global family office based in London, so the money could have come from Singapore,” Mr Farage said. “The money could come from all over the world, you know. Income could have came from all over the world into a family office based in London. I know electoral law. I know donation law better than anybody.”Accepting donations from an overseas company, including donations in kind for surveys and research, could constitute a criminal offence, and the party has been reported to the police.Mr Jukes as well as Mr Farage’s former head of policy, James Orr, have both stepped down after being recorded talking about how to get money to the party from an American donor and asking a fake company to pay for polling.The scandal has overshadowed Reform UK’s annual political conference in Birmingham and Mr Farage acknowledged he expected “many more investigations over the course of the next few months”.Speaking on the final day of the rally, the Clacton MP again insisted his party had broken no laws. Read MoreHe said he was certain Reform had accepted no illicit contributions and dismissed claims by Mr Jukes that the party had previously concealed the origin of some donations as “loose pub talk”.Mr Farage, who is already facing scrutiny over his failure to declare a £5 million gift from Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, said investigations “will go on”.The scandal has overshadowed Reform’s party conference in BirminghamAFP/Getty“You come back and see me in six months, there’ll be five more investigations,” he said. Blaming the establishment for the scrutiny, he added: “They are not going to give us a free ride. “They will do anything they can. I expect many more investigations over the course of the next few months, I have no doubt about it.” Bridget Phillipson, Chair of the Labour Party, said: "Farage finishes conference as he started: with desperate excuses and pathetic deflection tactics to try to distract from his and his party's shady finances. “The sleaze and scandals engulfing Reform aren't going away. Farage needs to wake up, take responsibility and realise the buck stops with him.”