An internal investigation by Reform UK has found the rightwing party did not breach the law when two senior officials were recorded in an undercover sting that alleged it knowingly sought illegal funding from overseas.
Dan Jukes, senior aide to party leader Nigel Farage, and James Orr, Reform’s head of policy, both stepped down in September after the broadcast of a film by Channel 4 News on the eve of the party’s annual conference in Birmingham.
On Wednesday Reform, which has denied wrongdoing, said its investigation had examined witness interviews, documentary records and electronic communications and “found no evidence that any laws were broken”.
The party threatened legal action against Verbatim, the investigative journalism outfit that had exposed its officials’ private conversations.
Bridget Phillipson, Labour Party chair, criticised the internal report, saying: “You can find more whitewash in this report than at your local B&Q.”
The Metropolitan Police is still carrying out a criminal investigation into whether Reform broke funding laws.
Under UK electoral law, donors to political parties must be either a UK-registered voter or a company registered in the country.
Channel 4 broadcast a 30-minute film on the eve of Reform’s annual conference showing extensive undercover footage of Jukes and Orr allegedly looking to arrange illicit donations from foreign donors.
Farage was also implicated in the sting, meeting two men posing as a wealthy American and his UK-based son, who had funded three polls commissioned by Reform ahead of local elections in England in May.
Jukes allegedly sought a later gift from the fake donors of as much as £500,000 and suggested it could be given via the UK-based son to bypass restrictions on foreign donors.
Reform’s internal investigation said no donation was made or accepted by the party. The probe by Adam Richardson, Reform’s barrister, and Tom Waterhouse, its general secretary, found that the party’s procedures for checking donors were “never reached”.
The report described Jukes, one of Farage’s closest longstanding aides, as a “contractor” and not an employee of Reform. It referred to Orr, a Cambridge professor and theologian, as only a “consultant”.
While Reform’s report said there was no evidence any individual took part knowingly in an arrangement to facilitate a donation from an impermissible source, the internal investigation had found “people speaking for the party said things that were wrong, careless and in one instance untrue”.
“The party’s arrangements allowed a sustained deception to reach its leader without anyone asking the questions that would have exposed it,” the report said. Reform would implement changes to stop that happening again, it added.
Jukes said he was considering “all appropriate legal remedies” in relation to “any false or damaging statements” about him.
Verbatim said in a statement: “We note that this report is an internal one authored by Reform’s own barrister and general secretary, and that a police investigation remains ongoing. We are confident in our journalism, which speaks for itself.”
Orr did not immediately respond to a request for comment.