Nigel Farage's Reform in crisis as Met Police launch criminal probe into donations

The Metropolitan Police has launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Reform UK breached foreign donation rules. Party leader Nigel Farage was among those filmed by undercover reporters. A Reform UK spokesman said the party “denies any wrongdoing”.Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage GettyIn a statement, the Met Police 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. “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.“As part of enquiries, detectives are seeking to obtain relevant footage relating to the broadcast on Thursday, 3 September.“Detectives continue to liaise closely with the Electoral Commission and Crown Prosecution Service as enquiries progress.”Undercover reporters posing as party donors met with Nigel Farage Channel 4 / VerbatimReform UK will co-operate fully with the probe, a party spokesman said.In a statement, the spokesman said: “Reform UK denies any wrongdoing and will fully co-operate with the investigation.“We won’t be commenting further while a live investigation is under way.”It appeared to show senior Reform UK figures discussing how to disguise donations from foreign sources. Read MoreMr Farage’s former chief of staff, Dan Jukes, and ex-head of policy, James Orr, both stepped down following the news report. The Reform leader and Mr Jukes were filmed talking with an undercover reporter, posing as a US donor, about giving £500,000 to Reform through his UK-based son.Accepting donations from an overseas company, including donations in kind for surveys and research, could constitute a criminal offence, and the party was reported to the police. Mr Jukes has denied any wrongdoing and Mr Orr previously said he was co-operating fully with Reform's internal investigation.The scandal overshadowed Reform UK’s political conference where Mr Farage acknowledged he expected “many more investigations over the course of the next few months”. Speaking on the final day of the rally on Saturday, the Clacton MP insisted his party had broken no laws.He 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”.