Nigel Farage endures protest-ridden conference speech after foreign donations sting
The Reform UK leader’s speech in Birmingham was interrupted four times in chaotic scenes including sniffer dogs and tense security
Nigel Farage endured a protest-ridden conference speech following allegations Reform had broken laws on political donations.
The Reform UK leader’s speech in Birmingham was interrupted four times in chaotic scenes.
This followed an hour-long delay in which sniffer dogs were deployed after a banner had been erected behind the stage.
The whole timetable for speakers on the main stage, including the Reform UK leader’s speech, had already been pushed back half an hour earlier in the day.
But it faced further delays after a sign appeared behind the stage while Mr Farage’s deputy Richard Tice was speaking.
The sign - which portrayed Mr Farage as a character from the Monopoly board game - was erected to the left of Mr Tice, whose speech was supposed to be immediately before the Reform UK leader.
It had the words: “Collect £5 million. Burn the planet.”
This was a reference to Mr Farage’s undeclared personal gift from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne. He is currently under investigation by House of Commons authorities into whether he should have declared the gift.
The sign went seemingly unnoticed for several minutes as Mr Tice continued with his speech.
Eventually, after members of the audience shouted, it was taken down.
Mr Tice continued speaking, but there was a flurry of security behind the stage where the sign had been.
Police inspected the scene, along with sniffer dogs.
After Mr Tice finished speaking, former Reform UK chairman David Bull came on to the stage to tell the audience there would be a short delay ahead of Mr Farage’s speech due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
While they waited, lively Reform members waved flags and sang as Sweet Caroline and Dancing Queen played out over the speakers.
Mr Farage then emerged at the front of the crowd, flanked by his security, as Come On Eileen blared over the speakers.
It sparked chaotic scenes as journalists scrambled to get pictures and video.
Mr Farage did a tour of the front of the stage, waving to the crowd and dancing.
When he went backstage and Mr Bull was introducing him onstage, security took a journalist to the side and seemingly ejected her from the room.
When Mr Farage returned he apologised for his lateness and informed delegates the delay had been due to a “security alert”.
He said: “I’m sorry we were delayed, it was a security alert and I was told, for security reasons, I couldn’t take the stage. That’s why we had a delay.
“So I decided instead to come among you and sing and dance, and it worked out pretty well I think in the end.”
But there was much more chaos to come.
Within minutes his speech was interrupted by two protesters.
Two women stood up and held a banner.
They were booed by audience members who shouted “out” before they were removed by security.
Mr Farage said: “We’ve got a screamer.”
There were more to come. A third protester was apprehended quickly by security, while a third was turned on by the crowd.
Both were removed in separate incidents
Mr Farage said they were “boring” and joked ticket prices could be raised next year to weed out protesters.
The atmosphere was tense as security were spread about, waiting for the next protester to show up.
A fourth did appear but was dealt with quickly and ejected.
Mr Farage’s speech never managed to get any momentum due to the large number of protesters, although he did manage to joke that he doesn’t “even own a motorhome” in a dig at Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband Peter Murrell.
The annual gathering at Birmingham’s NEC was overshadowed by yet more allegations about party funding after Channel 4 broadcast footage that appeared to show senior Reform figures discussing how to disguise donations from foreign donors.
The footage was part of an investigation by undercover group Verbatim, who posed as an American donor and his son who had paid for polling allegedly commissioned by Reform and were seeking to channel money to the party.
Accepting donations from a foreign company, including donations in kind such as polling, could constitute a criminal offence, and the party has been reported to the police.
Dan Jukes, a long-serving Farage aide, and James Orr, the party’s head of policy, have stood down pending an internal investigation of their appearance in the footage.
In one clip, Mr Jukes appeared to suggest that the party had previously disguised donations from foreign sources.
Mr Jukes denies wrongdoing and accused the undercover reporters involved in the report of “entrapment”.
Over the course of Friday, Mr Farage repeatedly insisted that the party had broken no laws and dismissed Mr Jukes’s comments as “loose pub talk” that included “a couple of boasts that simply were not true”.
In his speech, he said Reform had been “the subject of a highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks” by an “ecosystem” that had been built up around Labour and the Conservatives over the past century.
He said: “They were never going to come out with a tray of gin and tonics, I promise you.
“But I promise you, we will not be distracted by any of this. We are absolutely determined in what we’re doing.”
Mr Farage added: “Reform has broken no law. We take compliance extremely seriously.
“And ask yourself, why is all of this happening? Anyone got a clue why it’s happening? Because they’re scared of us. That’s why it’s happening.”
Mr Farage used his speech to pledge to declare a “national emergency” and make Parliament sit round-the-clock to pass legislation that will deliver his priorities.
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