Nigel Farage’s biggest ever crisis: Why bombshell video clips are so damning for the Reform leaderCommentary: The images of Mr Farage and Reform officials caught in an ‘undercover sting’ will cut through to millions of voters
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Nicholas Cecil, Chief Reporter @nicholascecil1 minute ago
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The camera never lies.
Well it does.
But Nigel Farage’s problem in a spiralling crisis is that the vast majority of people still believe what they see on camera.
And the images in the undercover sting operation which targeted Reform’s funding are damning.
Nigel Farage and Dan Jukes meet a “US financier and his son” at a pub in ClactonVerbatim/Channel 4 News
Mr Farage and two Reform UK officials, press chief Dan Jukes and the party’s head of policy James Orr who have now fallen on their swords, face claims of breaching political party funding laws.
Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Green Party have reported Reform to the police over allegations by Channel 4 News that Reform took funding from a US firm for three polls it commissioned earlier this year, costing £32,500.
The purported donors that appeared in the footage broadcast on Thursday night were in fact undercover reporters from investigative group Verbatim posing as an American financier and his UK-based son.
Mr Farage’s party also faces an allegation that it sought a proposed £500,000 donation from a foreign source via a UK intermediary.
Foreign companies are not a permissible source of funding for parties, including for payments for studies and research, and accepting donations from them could constitute a criminal offence.
Mr Farage insists: “The party has broken no laws.
“The party has not taken any dodgy money or anything like that whatsoever.”
Undercover reporters posing as party donors met with Nigel Farage Channel 4 / Verbatim
Mr Farage may turn out to be right.
Equally, he might not.
If there is no Met Police or other investigation, we may never know the truth.
But the images of his meeting with the “US financier and his son” at a pub in Clacton will cut through to the public.
As will Reform officials meeting the “son” at some of London’s most exclusive locations including Rules Restaurant and Claridge’s.
For many voters, the images will simply not pass the political “smell test”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage arrives to cast his vote in the Clacton by-electionPA Wire
Mr Farage prides himself of being king in the court of public opinion, hence the Clacton by-election last month.
And he is, for at least about 25% of voters in Britain.
He will seek to brush off the latest controversy at his party conference on Friday and Saturday and many of his ardent supporters will do the same.
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But there are other Reform backers, and business chiefs thinking about building ties with the party, who might start to have growing questions about it.
It is easier for Mr Farage to dismiss the previous funding allegations against him and his party as they do not come with the extensive footage.
A parliamentary investigation into a £5 million gift received by Mr Farage from a crypto-billionaire has resumed after he returned to Parliament.
The probe by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standard into the alleged failure to register an interest was suspended after the Reform UK leader triggered the by-election by resigning amid scrutiny over his and the party’s finances.
Such details, on the rules on declaring interests as an MP or before entering Parliament, are very Whitehall beltway.
They might excite the Westminster village but most people in the country have got more important things to get on with or about which to worry.
Nigel Farage announcing in July that he was resigning as an MP to trigger a by-election in ClactonGetty
However, the images of the undercover sting will get a far bigger viewing, on TV, the print and digital media, and on social media.
Mr Farage’s party has swiftly evolved to be political masters of the digital war, compared to the other parties still lagging behind in a new communications era.
Reform fully understand the power of the image and video clip.
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