Nigel Farage has said the "bad period" for Reform UK is over, revealing that his family had urged him to quit politics amid intense scrutiny over the party's finances. His comments came as Reform's annual conference in Birmingham was overshadowed by a Channel 4 undercover sting appearing to show senior aide Dan Jukes and head of policy James Orr discussing ways to circumvent electoral law to secure foreign donations, prompting both men to stand down pending an internal investigation.

Farage told the BBC that although his family would rather he "packed it up and walked away", he believed the party had come through its difficulties, and insisted the public understood his "unusual circumstances". One donation discussed in the sting reportedly totalled £500,000, while a separate Commons standards probe is examining a £5 million donation from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne. Labour and the Liberal Democrats have reported Reform to the Metropolitan Police, which said it would assess the matter, and Conservative MPs have called for the Electoral Commission to seize hardware from Reform's headquarters to preserve evidence. Reform denies any wrongdoing and says it has accepted no illegal money.