Farage seeks to shore up damaged leadership as scandal engulfs Reform conference

Splits emerge within party after resignation of officials reported to police for apparent plot to evade donations law

Nigel Farage sought to shore up his damaged leadership on Friday as he attempted to distance himself from two of his most senior officials reported to the police for apparently plotting to evade the law on foreign donations.

As the scandal engulfed Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham, Farage was forced to suspend his closest aide, Dan Jukes, and head of policy, James Orr, after an undercover investigation by reporters from a group called Verbatim.