NIGEL FARAGE HAS said that his party will tackle the small boats crisis as he denied all wrongdoing regarding the foreign donations row that largely overshadowed Reform UK’s party conference this weekend.

Reform UK have come under close scrutiny after an undercover investigation showed senior figures in the party talking about how to get money to the party from an American donor and asking a fake company to pay for polling.

Accepting donations from a foreign company, including donations in kind such as polling, could constitute a criminal offence and the party has been reported to the police.

Farage admitted Reform UK would “make mistakes” as he closed the conference, which was billed as setting out the party’s plans for the first 100 days of government, but was overshadowed by the journalistic investigation.

Nigel Farage, leader of the British Reform UK, and Jordan Bardella, President of France's Rassemblement National(RN), attend the Reform UK Party Conference Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

In an interview with the BBC on Saturday, Farage said that he “frankly wasn’t listening” during a conversation with his former chief of staff and an undercover reporter discussing what appears to have been a scheme to funnel foreign money to Reform UK.

His former chief of staff Dan Jukes and ex-head of policy James Orr have both been removed from their jobs after the investigation was broadcast on Channel 4 News on Thursday.

Jukes has denied doing anything wrong. Orr has told Sky News he will cooperate fully with Reform’s internal investigation.

The Reform leader also told the BBC that his family are “begging” him to leave his job amid increasing pressure, and admitted that the scandal would worry some voters.

Farage claimed to “know donation law better than anybody” and said Jukes and Orr “should have done basic checks” before bringing potential donors to meet him.

But he also said he “frankly wasn’t even listening” during a meeting with the undercover reporters in Clacton, adding: “I was told there was a global family office based in London, so the money could have come from Singapore.

“The money could come from all over the world, you know. Income could have come from all over the world into a family office based in London.”

Farage’s poll ratings have fallen amid scrutiny of Reform’s finances and a Clacton by-election that was boycotted by other parties.

In an attempt to move on from the drama of the conference, Farage wrote an opinion piece for The Sun in which he claimed his party’s pact with France’s National Rally would lead to the end of migrants making unauthorised Channel crossings.

Farage wrote: “Establishment parties told us international treaties of the last century can’t be touched. They were wrong. This week, we proved it.

“The pieces are in place. We are ready. A Reform UK government will finally take back control of the Channel, restore order — and stop those boats for good.”

‘Boring, boring, boring’

At the party conference, Farage said he would declare a national emergency and make Parliament sit round the clock to deliver on his party’s priorities.

But his speech was delayed for an hour by a “security alert” and disrupted by hecklers who were removed by security.

One on occasion, a protester can be seen being attacked by people at the conference, with her hair being forcefully pulled and a man then hitting her with a walking stick.

Addressing the conference hall, the Reform leader said, “That poor young girl, she looked like she was going to do herself an injury,” before adding, “boring, boring, boring”. 

West Midlands Police have asked the woman who was attacked to come forward.  

Meanwhile, Robert Jenrick told protesters to “get a life” and reacted to the footage, saying “boohoo”.

Asked about the incident on Sky News’s Sunday Morning programme, Jenrick said: “Oh boohoo.”

He told presenter Jon Sopel: “We’re now in a country, Jon, where somebody who is – whatever she is – a far-left protester, goes into a party conference, tries to wreck the leader’s speech, and cries foul if a pensioner knocks her over the head with their Zimmer frame, I mean, come on, get a life.

“This person knew what they were doing. They were trying to cause trouble, and they probably got more publicity out of it as a result of what happened.”

Demonstrators were thrown out of the main conference hall four times at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, where Reform UK held their annual get-together.

Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick mocked protesters after one woman was dragged out of a Reform conference by her hair (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA PA

They interrupted Farage’s keynote speech, shortly after his deputy Richard Tice had a banner displayed during his own address referencing the scandal around a donation to Farage.

The Reform leader laughed during the disruption and said: “We’ve got a screamer. Oh dear.”

Farage said on Saturday the criticism was “one-sided”, telling broadcasters: “It’s all one way, isn’t it? I can have milkshakes chucked in my face, be bashed over the head with placards and that’s all fine. That’s absolutely fine.

“Yet, well, we have a big event that people have paid a lot of money to come to and we get people there trying to disrupt it and we remove them. Suddenly we’re in the wrong. Utter nonsense.”

Activist group Climate Resistance claimed responsibility for the protest.

In a comment, they said they were “horrified at the violence” from Reform conference audience members.

The group also said the protester was considering whether to come forward to police.

Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf condemned members who pulled the hair of the heckler, but party chairman Lee Anderson said the party would be having a “whip round” for an audience member who was seen hitting the protester with a walking stick.

With reporting by PA