Reform UK’s Jaymey McIvor went on ‘Newsnight’ to say Reform UK had found that Reform UK did nothing wrong on party donations, and he was gloriously heckled by the other panellists

Time for a check-in with Reform UK, and it seems the party has concluded its own internal investigation into whether senior party figures breached the law on party donations.

And, shockingly, the party has found that the party did noting wrong.

This arose from last month’s undercover operation by Channel 4 News and the Verbatim group.

EXCLUSIVE: Reform UK did not break any laws when senior party figures were recorded by undercover journalists discussing a £500,000 gift from a foreign donor, an internal investigation has concluded.

A 27-page report, commissioned by Reform, after a Channel 4 investigation into funding also cleared the party of wrongdoing over the funding of three opinion polls.

🔗: https://t.co/ffbXMluuN4

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) October 7, 2026

As you might expect, the news has provoked quite a bit of scorn.

Blimey. I am shocked. The Telegraph has got an exclusive on the internal investigation into Reform which finds nobody in Reform did anything at all wrong in any way ever about anything. I’m really looking forward to the GB News debate on this amazing news.

— ALASTAIR CAMPBELL (@campbellclaret) October 7, 2026

Alex Jones, "Reform UK have just completed their own investigation into the foreign donations scandal, what did they conclude?" #HIGNFY

Paul Merton, "They’re completely innocent. They have investigated themselves, there’s nothing to see here, they’re completely innocent"

Alex Jones, "Yep, you’re completely right. They can stop the inquiry now because its all fine because it’s all sorted"

Ian Hislop, "Luckily, no one is going to stop the inquiry, there’s still a Parliamentary Standards Inquiry going on, a proper inquiry, with real people in it"

My view: Reform’s “investigation” was not an independent external inquiry. It was commissioned by Reform itself and conducted by the party’s barrister and general secretary, using its own records and the accounts of the two men at the centre of the allegations: former head of policy James Orr and Farage aide Dan Jukes.

The Channel 4/Verbatim investigation raised two central questions. First, whether three polls helpful to Reform had effectively been funded through an impermissible foreign source. Second, whether officials were willing to facilitate a proposed £500,000 donation from an American father via his British-resident son.

Reform’s internal report says the polls were commissioned personally by Jukes, not the party, and that no £500,000 donation was ever made or accepted. It therefore clears Reform of breaking electoral law.

But it is hardly a clean bill of health. The report itself says party figures made comments that were “wrong, careless and in one instance untrue”, and identifies governance failures serious enough to require seven changes to how Reform handles donors, contractors, polling and compliance. Orr and Jukes stood down after the sting.

Crucially, Reform does not get the final word on whether its conduct was lawful. The Metropolitan Police investigation is continuing, and the British Polling Council is examining the failure to disclose who commissioned the polls.

Those bodies—not the party’s own lawyer—will decide whether any rules were broken.

Hislop’s reference to the Parliamentary Standards inquiry is a separate but potentially serious matter: it concerns Nigel Farage’s disputed £5m gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

Farage says it was a personal gift for security; the commissioner is considering whether it should have been declared.

If the process ultimately led to a Commons suspension of at least 10 sitting days, it could trigger a recall petition in Clacton, and potentially a by-election.

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) October 9, 2026

But nowhere was the scorn more prominent than on BBC’s Newsnight, where Reform UK councillor Jaymey McIvor went on to defend the party’s handling of the matter.

Co-panellists Richard Bacon, Ruth Davidson and Rachel Millward ended up talking over one another to mock Reform UK’s investigation.

"No laws were broken"

"According to your mates!"

Reform UK councillor Jaymey McIvor is questioned by broadcaster Richard Bacon about an internal party investigation over whether it breached electoral law.

#Newsnight https://t.co/keEFWgYitD

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) October 9, 2026

And viewers enjoyed the spectacle too.