The Undercover Reform Investigation

Today, two senior officials have stood down from Reform UK after a Channel 4 News report prompts the party to investigate claims about funding.

Nigel Farage's senior aide Dan Jukes and Reform's head of policy James Orr have both stood down pending the outcome of the internal probe. The undercover filming was done by Verbatim Investigations and broadcast by Channel 4 News. Reform UK has denied wrongdoing and Nigel Farage describes the operation as entrapment.

The footage appears to show an attempt to secure funding from someone they believed to be a foreign donor. Electoral law prohibits UK political parties from receiving financial contributions from people who can't vote here.

Reform denies any wrongdoing and says it has "been the target of a hoax perpetuated by foreign-funded climate change activists". Adam and Chris discuss. This episode was recorded at 11.30am on Friday.

You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers.

You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord

Get in touch with Newscast by emailing [email protected] or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480.

New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd

Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Jack Maclaren with Miranda Slade and Nik Sindle. The social producers were Joe Wilkinson and Beth Pritchard. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.