Birmingham (United Kingdom) (AFP) - British hard-right leader Nigel Farage sought to play down a fresh donations scandal sparked by an undercover sting operation that overshadowed his Reform UK party’s annual conference on Friday.

Farage had been hoping to use the gathering to move on from damaging controversies over financial gifts by setting out the policies of any future Reform government, including cooperation with France’s anti-immigrant National Rally (RN) party.

But just hours before Farage’s keynote address, two senior Reform officials resigned following an investigation aired by Channel 4 News that alleged they had conspired to secure a foreign donation – barred under UK electoral law.

Reform said in a statement that policy head James Orr and Farage’s longtime aide Dan Jukes had stepped down from their roles pending the outcome of an internal probe into the sting.

The ruling Labour party was among rival parties to say they had reported Reform to police over claims it took funding from a US firm for three opinion polls it commissioned earlier this year.

The purported donors were in fact undercover reporters for investigative journalism group Verbatim.

London’s Metropolitan Police said it was “aware” of the reports.

- ‘Entrapment’ -

During a news conference, Farage dismissed suggestions that Reform had previously taken disguised foreign donations as “loose pub talk” but acknowledged that the comments by Orr and Jukes were “injudicious at best”.

“This was an exercise in entrapment. Let me be clear: the party has done nothing wrong, taken no illegal money,” Farage insisted.

Delegates at the conference in the central English city of Birmingham also played down the allegations.

“I just think they (opponents) are so worried about Reform, it’s attack, attack, attack all the time,” 62-year-old nurse Heather Kynman told AFP.

Darren Ball, another delegate, predicted the furore would not knock Reform’s prospects.

“Reform is the only party that can save this country. Immigration is a huge thing for the UK. It needs to be addressed,” the 51-year-old who works in security said.

- Immigration -

The party’s main focus is its anti-immigration policies, in particular ending the arrival of thousands of irregular migrants by small boat on England’s southern coast.

Setting out the party’s pledges on immigration home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf told the conference a Reform government would “deploy the Royal Navy to stop the boats” and “remove every foreign national who entered this country illegally”.

The conference was also addressed by Jordan Bardella, president of France’s far-right National Rally party.

He promised that under a National Rally government France would no longer be the “gateway for illegal immigration into the UK”.

He and Farage announced a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on the issue should their parties each win power.

Britain’s Labour government has said the number of boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers across the Channel was the lowest this summer since 2019, in part because of existing cooperation deals with the French government.

- Regain momentum -

Firebrand Farage has been seeking to regain the momentum that saw Reform chalk up significant success at May local elections.

Security was tight at the conference centre with speeches put back by around an hour due to long queues to get in.

Inside the venue emblazoned in Reform’s official colour turquoise some delegates stood out.

Several wore Union Jack clothing while one man roamed around dressed as medieval king Richard the Lionheart.

“It’s appropriate because he fought for the right thing like Farage,” said 62-year-old historical re-enactor Chris Luck, dressed in a red cloak, chain mail balaclava and crown.

- Disappointing -

Until late July, Reform had led centre-left Labour in polls for over a year, but it has recently slipped behind. Farage faces intense scrutiny over his finances and Labour is enjoying a bounce under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

Parliament’s corruption watchdog is already investigating a £5-million ($6.7-million) donation from British crypto-currency billionaire Christopher Harborne to Farage, who has said the money was for his security.

He says it was received before he was elected and therefore did not need to be declared to parliamentary authorities.

John Howard, 62, a property developer and aspiring Reform candidate, said the new potential scandal was “disappointing” but insisted it was “just a blip”.

Farage remains Reform’s most recognisable figure. His party’s rise was closely tied to his political persona as a plain-speaking, anti-establishment populist.

Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, is also facing allegations that he failed to declare financial gifts.

Reform, trying to establish itself as Labour’s main challenger on the right, currently has just eight seats in the 650-seat Westminster parliament.

Reform defector Rupert Lowe’s far-right Restore Britain party has eaten into Reform’s support in recent months.