Reform UK conference LIVE: Nigel Farage says ‘campaign of attacks’ won't distract Reform as speech descends into chaos

Reform UK conference LIVE: Nigel Farage says ‘campaign of attacks’ won't distract Reform as speech descends into chaos Nigel Farage has finally addressed allegations the party knowingly accepted foreign donations to pay for polls that weren't declared, before speaking at Reform UK's conference Nigel Farage says Reform won’t be distracted by ‘campaign of attacks’ in his speech at the Reform UK conference tonight. Mr Farage took to the main stage at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham to give his speech this evening, during which he was interrupted numerous times by protesters and hecklers. The party leader said: “We have been the subject of a highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks.” He added: “But I promise you, we will not be distracted by any of this. We are absolutely determined in what we’re doing.” The annual gathering has gone off the rails after explosive allegations over foreign donations saw two high-profile aides forced to step down. Comms chief Dan Jukes and head of policy James Orr were recorded allegedly plotting for a foreign donor to pay £32,500 for off-the-books polling on behalf of the party, in a potential breach of electoral law. Meanwhile, Mr Farage has insisted Reform UK has “broken no laws” and had not “taken any dodgy money” amid allegations the party breached political donation rules. 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. The Reform party conference is due to continue tomorrow, but here's everything you need to know so far... Key Events As yesterday's conference came to an end Zia Yusuf told BBC NewsNight: "Obviously the documentary, there’s no two ways about it, it was disappointing to see that - it's not comfortable to hear some of the things that were said. But, the party is taking it seriously and there's an investigation there going on and I don't want to prejudice that investigation so I'm going to allow that to take its course." Other senior Reform figures will also address the conference on Saturday, which has been centred around its plans for the first 100 days of a Reform government. The party’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick will speak about cutting benefit spending, and taxes for both working people and pensioners. Education spokeswoman Suella Braverman will announce plans to cut student loans being issued for “Mickey Mouse degrees”, and to lift the cap on medical school places. Reform was plunged into turmoil on Friday night as Scotland Yard said it was assessing reports that senior figures sought to evade electoral law over donations. Two top aides to Nigel Farage were forced to step down following an undercover sting, which appeared to show the pair discussing how to disguise donations from foreign donors. Long-standing aide Dan Jukes and policy chief James Orr left their posts, pending an internal probe, as the donations scandal threatened to engulf the party. They all deny wrongdoing. Labour and the Liberal Democrats reported Reform to the police over a report, by Channel 4 News and undercover group Verbatim, which aired on the eve of the party's annual conference. But Mr Farage sought to downplay the secretly-recorded comments as "loose pub talk" as he addressed delegates in a chaotic speech beset by hecklers and delays. He complained to party faithful that Reform had been “the subject of a highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks” by the establishment around the main parties. READ THE FULL STORY HERE. Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said: "Nigel Farage is up to his neck in sleaze and scandal. "His desperate deflection tactics and complete failure to take personal responsibility for his actions has thrown his conference into chaos and his party into crisis. "If Farage can't get his own house in order, he simply can't be trusted to address the issues the country faces." Infamy, infamy - they’ve all got it in for me. Tetchy Nigel Farage mutating into a hapless Kenneth Williams in the latest episode of the Carry On Reform farce leaves most voters jeering at a dodgy trickster going backwards, not forwards, to Downing Street. The mocking Greenpeace banner delaying his heckler-interrupted big speech, under-powered by his standards, symbolised a Hard-Right party losing control, reeling under scrutiny, Farage’s mini-Trump tribute act past its sell-by date with Donald of Iran bombing here. Reform zealots in Birmingham saluting their leader are on another planet in believing the latest financial scandal to engulf the party was a hoax or doesn’t matter, wild-eyed conspiracy theorists screaming they’re victims of conspiracies. Shameless Farage, a career politician who cons and tricks the public by forever portraying himself as the persecuted outsider, is the bad boss from hell sacrificing two of his closest, most important aides, Dan Dukes and James Orr, to save his own skin over what Nasty Nige disingenuously dismissed as a "little local difficulty” and “loose pub talk”. READ THE FULL STORY HERE. Nigel Farage's conference speech was delayed and the party leader told delegates it was due to a "security alert". Some media outlets reported that a Reform UK source had informed them that counter terrorism police would not let him on. West Midlands Police said however that the "decision to delay the commencement of the leader of Reform UK's keynote speech was made by Reform UK". The force added: "We can confirm that Counter Terrorism Policing have had no involvement in the delivery of the Reform UK Party Conference 2026." Farage littered his conference speech with half-baked policy ideas from threatening the future of the House of Lords to cutting energy bills. The Reform UK leader said he would stop all small boat crossing within the first 100 days of government. Farage also said he would cut energy bills by £250, end Net Zero and boost NHS training, if the party were to be in government. He also threatened to hold a referendum on the future of the House of Lords if the upper chamber of Parliament did not pass his legislation. Farage also threatened to remove civil servants if they impeded a Reform government. Farage also called the judiciary an "obstacle" saying Reform would "remove the ability of judges or lean on outdated conventions like the European Convention on Human Rights which will be gone". A protestor who was dragged out during Nigel Farage's speech claimed she was allowed into the event despite disrupting conference last year. The heckler said: "I entered Reform conference last year under the same name, account and ticket that I entered this year. I've been a Reform member for two years, just to be able to buy Reform conference tickets." She also told Times Radio: "I've been asked, you know, by the Reform party to be a councillor." Farage's speech was stopped four times by demonstrators. Nigel Farage has been accused of parading a "meaningless document packed with daft and dangerous ideas" in front of Reform supporters as he pledged to stop small boats. The Reform UK chief signed an agreement with a senior figure from a far-right French opposition party stating France would 'ordinarily' accept returns if it gets into power. Mr Farage signed an agreement with Jordan Bardella, of the National Rally party, on the stage of the Reform Party conference in Birmingham. But he later faced questions about the vague wording of the deal, with the Reform leader insisting it was "legalese". Reform claimed the agreement, which relies on Marine Le Pen's NR party coming to power in France, would make its much-maligned plan to dispatch the Royal Navy in the Channel feasible. The memorandum of understanding, which is not a legally-binding document, states: "The United Kingdom will intercept boats which have launched from French shores and entered British territorial waters and will return the persons on board to France. "France will ordinarily accept these persons, who will be repatriated to their home country in accordance with the law in force in France concerning expulsion." READ THE FULL STORY HERE. Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson here... If there was one thing that was the same between Nigel Farage's conference speech this year and last year, it was that viewers aren't walking away talking about the policies, plans or promises of Reform UK. As usual, the Reform leader's speech was spectacle over substance with the usual pyrotechnics and blaring music. But this time, the speech was not only full of empty declarations but descended into complete and utter chaos. Heckler after heckler after heckler disrupted Mr Farage including one holding a banner saying: “Reform works for billionaires.” And the speech was delayed after another banner stunt during Richard Tice's speech - which was directly before - sparked security concerns. I was sitting near the front among rows of Reform members who booed hecklers, chanted "out, out, out" and cheered as protestors were dragged out of the conference hall. While Farage attempted to brush off the interruptions, the temperature shot up in the room and everyone was on the edge of their seats, with heads shooting around looking for a sign another heckler was about to start shouting. The conference has already been overshadowed by an undercover sting alleging Reform may have breached rules on political donations, with two senior Reform figures stepping down this morning. Reform figures often try to dismiss the "noise" and criticism that comes from outside their fanbase... but nobody could ignore Farage being drowned out by shouts of corruption during his big conference moment today. The Liberal Democrats have asked Parliament's standards watchdog to investigate allegations Nigel Farage's aides sought to conceal impermissible donations to Reform UK. Lisa Smart, the Lib Dems' Cabinet Office spokeswoman, said in a letter to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg that a report by Channel 4 News "demonstrated the lengths that close aides of Nigel Farage went to in order to facilitate an impermissible donation and to conceal it". She said: "Nigel Farage met personally with the undercover reporters, whom he understood to be prospective American donors, and was subsequently recorded praising the effectiveness of private polling that this funding had paid for. "The activities, shown on camera, represent clear breaches of the law – specifically section 56 and 61 of PPERA (Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act)." One of the protesters thrown out of Nigel Farage's speech said he had shouted at the party leader to highlight corruption at the heart of reform. The heckler, named Ed, told The Mirror he is part of a group called Resist Reform. He said: "We just stood up in the Reform conference to highlight the corruption at the heart of the Reform Party." Asked what he shouted at Mr Farage he said: "There was quite a lot of adrenaline in the moment, so I think what I shouted was roughly, 'Are you one of these people who's corrupted by donations, Nigel?' "I know he took £5million from Christopher Harborne, who's a big tech billionaire who doesn't even live in the country, and he's also been caught in a sting operation taking illicit funds from the USA, and seeming to know about that as well. "So the idea was to raise people's awareness of that and to show that that's happening, because they talk a lot about nation and community values in that room. "And I believe some of the people there are genuinely there because that's what they believe, but they should know that this is a party that will flout the rules to get into power, and that just doesn't really care about the kinds of things that would keep us as ordinary citizens that we would actually have to obey." And he continued: "I hope that we've raised awareness of the corruption scandal that is just blowing up today, because this is something that hopefully will make people aware that Reform is not a party that can be trusted in power." Mirror Political Correspondent David Burke writes in... Earlier today Reform's home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, spoke to reporters about the scandal engulfing the party. He said: "Well, obviously, anyone is first and foremost disappointed. There's an investigation that has now been commissioned by Lee (Anderson), the chairman, and Nigel, the leader. "I'm not going to prejudice that investigation by commenting on it." Asked who would be carrying out the investigation he said: "I genuinely don't know. I'm not involved in party management anymore, those days are behind me. "There would have been a day when I was, so I can't." Asked if he had met the undercover journalists himself, Mr Yusuf said: "Not to my knowledge, no. I've no recollection of meeting them at all." Farage told the conference crowd that there were "many other things that I can go and do" instead of politics. He said: "Believe me when I say this, I have never been in politics for rank, for title or career. "There are many other things on this planet that I can go and do. But, I am doing it and I've been doing it on and off for 35 years because I have always fought for a soverign, proud, independent country that understands what it is." Nigel Farage said he would force another referendum on the British public if the House of Lords does not pass legislation if Reform won a general election. Farage told his party conference in Birmingham: "Parliament will sit, if necessary, for 24 hours a day, for six days a week until we pass the necessary legislation, and our policies will be explicit in our offering document to the British people. "I expect the House of Lords to honour that, as they've done with the Salisbury Convention for over a century. But if they don't, well we will present them with an idea. "It's not a new one, it has been used before. We'll appoint hundreds of new peers so that we have a majority in the House of Lords. "And if that proves difficult, we will hold a referendum on the current composition of the House of Lords, and they would be swept away by a British public appalled by them." Activists from Climate Resistance disrupted Nigel Farage's keynote speech at Reform party conference, the group said. Five protesters stood up during the speech. One of the hecklers said: "Nigel. You're bankrolled by billionares." Sam Simons, a spokesperson from Climate Resistance, said: "We have to expose Reform for who they really are: a party built for billionaires and big business. "While ordinary families struggle to put food on the table, Reform threaten to decimate our public services, slash rights for working people, and rig our broken economic system to line the pockets of shareholders. Reform aren't the ones fighting the Establishment - they are the Establishment." Farage's speech was brought to a stop four times by hecklers. A banner held up in the centre of the conference hall during the first protest read: "Reform works for billionaires." Farage addressed the fallout surrounding the polling scandal that has gripped Reform UK. Undercover footage recorded by investigative group Verbatim and aired by Channel 4 appeared to show JL Partners' James Johnson admitting to "informal rule bending" by keeping Reform's involvement hidden. Farage said: "The party has done nothing wrong". He added: "The polls in question were not commissioned by Reform." The Reform leader again said: "I repeat Reform has broken no law, we taken complaince extremely seriously." Another person brought the Reform leader's conference speech to a pause. Farage took the opportunity to oddly push his agenda against certain university degrees. He said: "These are the benefits of a university education." He added: "I bet she's studying sociology." The Reform crowd erupted into boos after a heckler brought Farage's speech to a pause. A woman was heard shouting moments after the part leader took to the stage. Farage told the crowd: "We've got a screamer." The crowd then shouted "out, out, out" as security appeared to remove a person from the crowd. Minutes later another heckler shouted out as Farage said "boring". A woman was seen being dragged out by security. Farage then told the crowd: "I think maybe next year we'll put the price of the tickets up don't you?" Nigel Farage has taken to the stage to make his speech at the Reform party confernce. The party leader's apperance was delayed due. He told the crowd: "I was told for security reasons I couldn't take to the stage." Enviromental campaign group Greenpeace said it "unfurled a remote control banner" of Nigel Farage at Reform UK's party conference. The campaign group said the poster despiected Farage as 'Mr Monopoly' carrying a sack of cash, with the slogan 'Collect £5 million, burn the planet'. The banner was displayed for several minutes as deputy leader Richard Tice made his speech, before a member of staff ripped the banner down. This comes after Tice said Brits should enjoy sparkling wine instead of worrying about the five heatwave summer experienced in the UK, which has claimed hundreds of lives. Tice previously said: "I'm old enough to remember 1976 - this feels a bit the same. That was 50 years ago. I think when it's a bit warm, let's enjoy it. And if it means that English wine and sparkling wine gets better and better, fantastic." Amy Cameron, Programme Director for Greenpeace UK, said: "Tice wants to celebrate this summer's relentless heatwaves and droughts because they're improving English sparkling wine. But the only thing being toasted in England is our farmland, and the only way you could miss that is if you’re paid not to notice. "Reform disguise themselves as champions of ordinary people, but they're funded by billionaires who profit from keeping us hooked on oil and gas, while the rest of us deal with the catastrophic climate consequences. "When this summer's searing temperatures give way to winter storms, 90% of homes in Tice's own constituency, Boston and Skegness, will be at risk of flooding." Events in the main hall at the Reform UK party conference were paused ahead of Farage's speech due to "unforeseen circumstances". Security personnel and a search dog have gathered behind the stage, The Mirror's political correspondent Sophie Huskisson said. The University of Cambridge has said it is "looking into these matters" after associate professor James Orr was alleged to have breached political donation rules. Mr Orr stepped down as Reform UK's head of policy after claims he arranged to have polling paid for by an overseas company – an impermissible donor under electoral law. Responding to the report, a Cambridge University spokesperson said: "The University is looking into these matters." Mr Orr is associate professor of Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge's Faculty of Divinity. Mirror political correspondent Sophie Huskisson here… Nigel Farage's speech has been held up due to "unforeseen circumstances", the conference has just been told. There appears to be chaos behind the platformed stage, with bobbing heads of people rushing about, on the phone, and talking in groups. People have particularly been gathering behind the bit of the stage where a banner just appeared during Richard Tice’s speech. I saw one man on the phone and another just crouched down to look underneath. Pollster JL Partners has admitted to a "lapse of judgment" for not "proactively" telling media outlets who was behind polling reportedly commissioned by Reform UK and paid for by a company set up by undercover journalists. In a lengthy statement following the report, JL Partners said IL Office LLC paid for three pieces of opinion research between January and July, 2026, after the company – which it understood to be the family office of a UK-based philanthropist – was introduced to the pollster by Reform figures. The statement said: "As an opinion research firm that conducts extensive polling on current affairs, we maintain good relations with various political parties, both in Britain and abroad and, in that context, sometimes people with a party alignment make suggestions about potential clients who may be interested in commissioning and paying for polling. "Some polls are commissioned in-house while others are commissioned by clients. Our usual practice is to inform a media partner when a poll has been commissioned by a particular client. "In the case of the polls that IL Office LLC had paid for, we did not offer that information proactively. "While there is no legal requirement to do so, it was a lapse of judgment that was not consistent with the approved procedures of JL Partners or with rule 2.1 of guidelines of the British Polling Council, of which JL Partners is a member." JL Partners said it contacted the BPC itself after concluding it had breached its rules, and is reviewing its own procedures. A banner has appeared behind Richard Tice reading "Collect £5 million, burn the planet" during his speech at the Reform UK party conference. The banner, which also depicted Nigel Farage in a top hat and carrying a bag of money, remained visible for several minutes before being taken down.