Reform UK leader maintains innocence in overseas funding controversy on last day of party conference

Nigel Farage has claimed that he “wasn’t even listening” during a meeting at the centre of a controversy about whether his party considered evading the law on accepting donations from overseas.

The Reform UK leader also claimed he knew donation law “better than anybody” during interviews as he sought to salvage the final day of his party conference from the fallout that has already cost him two of his closest aides.

Farage is under pressure over £5m gift, byelection losses and rise of rival Restore but allies say exit speculation is ‘wishful thinking’

“Of course he’s tired. He’s just done two months campaigning every day on the road, it would be weird if he wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to quit,” says one friend of Nigel Farage who has spent time with him in recent weeks.

Westminster has been ablaze with rumours that Farage is growing weary in the job of leading Reform UK after the bruising scandal around his decision to accept a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. He is now also facing further questions about whether his lifestyle has been partly funded by George Cottrell, his close friend and a convicted fraudster.

Watchdog to examine whether Reform UK leader should have declared sum he received before entering parliament

Nigel Farage is facing a formal investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog over a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

The Reform UK leader received the money weeks before announcing he would stand as a candidate in the 2024 general election.

With a fast-expanding membership and electoral gains in sight, the Israel–Palestine debate is testing party unity

A Green party member for more than 30 years, Elise Benjamin admits to bittersweet feelings even as fellow activists anticipate a historic breakthrough in next week’s elections.

Benjamin was involved in drawing up the party’s guidance on antisemitism, which she describes as comprehensive. But the former Green councillor in Oxford now wonders whether further guidance is needed: “Now that we have such a large membership, I think there needs to be an urgent review of how to make our complaints process fit for purpose.”

Experts say councils face limits on cuts as Reform’s savings on IT deals, office moves and EV projects are disputed

Reform UK has ignored requests to share the evidence for its claim to have saved £331m since it took charge of 10 English councils in May, prompting questions over whether the figure is true.

The party has boasted that it had achieved £331m worth of savings at English councils it controls. Warning of a “blob” of vested interests devoted to “ripping off” taxpayers, Richard Tice, the new head of the party’s self-styled ‘Doge’ cost-cutting unit, added: “We’re going to war with these people”.