2026年9月4日 / 美国东部时间下午5:26 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者：卡迈勒·阿夫扎利
英国民粹主义改革党激进党领袖奈杰尔·法拉奇的两名高级助手已辞职。此前，该党因一则调查新闻报道被指控违反英国关于外国资助的选举法，该报道中一名记者假扮成一名富商之子，声称想要向该党捐款。
该党发言人在一份声明中表示，在周四晚间英国第四频道新闻播出该报道后，该党已启动内部调查。发言人表示，两名改革党官员詹姆斯·奥尔和丹·尤克斯已离职，等待调查结果。
“该党认为，重要的是调查能够独立、无偏见地进行。调查进行期间，不会进一步置评。”发言人说道。
据哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的合作机构英国广播公司新闻报道，尤克斯被广泛视为法拉奇的得力助手，“对其老板的直觉有着与生俱来的感知”。奥尔是英国全国保守运动中的有影响力人物，此前担任改革党的政策负责人直至辞职。他是一名神学家，同时也是剑桥大学宗教哲学副教授。两名男子均否认有任何不当行为。
周五早些时候，法拉奇在接受伦敦一家广播电台采访时坚称，该党并未违反任何法律。
“该党没有拿过任何来路不明的钱之类的东西，”法拉奇在接受LBC电台采访时说道。“不过，这显然是一起诱捕事件，他们为此策划了很长时间，还让我们的几名承包商说了一些本不该说的话。正因为如此，他们今天早上被开除了，没错，你知道的，我对此并不满意。”
第四频道对该报道表示支持，一名发言人告诉英国广播公司新闻，此次调查“已经过严格核实以确保准确性。我们鼓励人们完整观看这一调查报道。”
就在法拉奇的政党年度会议即将召开之际，这些指控给该党带来了更大的压力。此事发生之际，外界正对与该党相关的捐款进行审查，其中包括2024年对加密亿万富翁克里斯托弗·哈本提供的数百万英镑捐款展开的议会调查。法拉奇否认有任何不当行为。
在该党会议上接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻采访时，国内事务发言人齐亚·优素福淡化了这些指控对该党内部运作可能造成的直接负面影响。
“听着，改革党有很多优秀的人才帮助我们走到今天。我毫不怀疑，凭借我所了解的人才储备，无论是在议会层面还是其他层面，我们都将挺过这一关，最终，最终会在另一边强势胜出，”优素福说道。
周四晚间，第四频道播出了这一调查报道，该台称报道由名为“逐字报道”的记者卧底团队制作，该团队由气候报道中心的记者创立。
此次调查的背景是，一名记者假扮成一名在英国接受教育的富商之子，这名富商来自怀俄明州，两人都表示热切支持该党，该党在意识形态和政策立场上与美国“让美国再次伟大”运动的部分派别以及全球其他右翼民粹主义运动存在相似之处。
英国法律规定，英国政党的合法捐赠者要么是英国登记选民，要么是公司。在卧底调查呈现的场景中，儿子是合法捐赠者，而父亲则不是。
秘密拍摄的镜头据称显示，两名政党助手安排卧底记者捐款，用于委托开展多项政治民调。据第四频道透露，捐款总额达3.25万英镑，约合4.4万美元。
其中部分民调后来出现在《每日电讯报》和《伦敦时报》等英国报纸的新闻报道中。这些报道对该党在地方选举中的运势以及工会成员中的支持率等问题持正面态度，但并未提及改革党据称是如何委托开展这些民调的。
尤克斯在告诉卧底记者时表示，这笔捐款对该党产生了“巨大影响”，同时“不会在任何公共记录中显现”。
奥尔否认改革党参与了民调工作，他在社交媒体上发布的一段视频中表示，“一名独立人士向一名独立民调机构支付了费用。”“没有任何资金流入改革党，没有任何捐款流入改革党——无论是现金还是实物，”他说道。
调查还涉及尤克斯与记者之间的讨论，内容是如何规避选举法，为该党争取另一笔50万英镑（约合67.5万美元）的外国捐款。第四频道表示，这笔捐款最终并未到位。
此次调查的高潮是，假扮美国富商之子的记者、一名扮演富商的演员、尤克斯和法拉奇四人共进午餐。
在那次会面中，法拉奇似乎知晓民调资金来自这位富商，当儿子提出将50万英镑外国捐款转入该党的方式时，他似乎并不担心，说道：“谢谢。嗯，两位都谢谢你们。”
尤克斯向英国广播公司新闻发表声明，称该报道是“由外国资助的气候变化活动人士在近一年的时间里实施的诱捕”。
“我完全否认有任何不当行为，但已退出政坛以洗刷自己的罪名，”尤克斯说道。
在向天空新闻发表的声明中，奥尔表示：“我已同意辞去在改革党的现任职务，等待该党就此次调查节目行为展开内部调查的结果，我将全力配合调查。”
改革党的至少两名对手——执政党工党和中间派自由民主党——已致函伦敦警察局，指控该党违反选举法。
警方在向哥伦比亚广播公司新闻发表的声明中表示，他们已了解到“涉及政党捐款”的报道，以及有关违反英国与民调相关法律的指控。
警方目前尚未启动调查，表示将“对该事件以及提交给我们的任何信息进行评估”。
负责监管政党和选举资金的英国选举委员会证实，他们已与警方取得联系。
“法律要求各政党报告其接受的所有价值超过1.118万英镑的合法捐款，以及所有价值超过500英镑的非法捐款，”该委员会表示。“任何涉嫌逃避捐款管制的信息，都应由警方进行审查。”
Senior aides to U.K.’s Nigel Farage step down in donation scandal where reporter posed as wealthy American’s son
September 4, 2026 / 5:26 PM EDT / CBS News
By
Kamal Afzali
Two senior aides to Nigel Farage, the firebrand leader of the U.K.’s populist Reform party, have stepped down after the party was accused of breaking British electoral law concerning foreign funding in the wake of an investigative news report where a journalist posed as a wealthy American’s son who wanted to donate to the party.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the party said it was launching an internal probe after the report aired on Britain’s Channel 4 news late Thursday. Two Reform party officials, James Orr and Dan Jukes, have left their positions pending the outcome of that investigation, the spokesperson said.
“The party believes it is important that the investigation is allowed to proceed independently and without prejudice. No further comment will be made while the investigation is ongoing,” the spokesperson said.
Jukes is widely regarded as Farage’s right-hand man, with an “innate sense of his boss’ instinct,” according to CBS News’ partner network BBC News. Orr, an influential figure in the British national conservative movement, served as Reform’s head of policy until his resignation. He is a theologian and associate professor of the philosophy of religion at the University of Cambridge. Both men denied any wrongdoing.
In an interview with a London radio station early Friday, Farage insisted the party had broken no laws.
“The party has not taken any dodgy money or anything like that whatsoever,” Farage told LBC Radio. “However, it is a clear case of entrapment, and they worked at it for a very long time, and they got a couple of our contractors to say things that perhaps should not have been said. And as a result of that, they have been removed this morning and yeah, you know, I’m not happy about it.”
Dan Jukes speaks to Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage in Clacton-on-Sea, Britain, July 2, 2024. Reuters/Hollie Adams
Channel 4 stood by the report, with a spokesperson telling BBC News the investigation “has been rigorously verified to ensure accuracy. We would encourage people to watch the investigation in full.”
The allegations pile further pressure on Farage just as his party’s annual conference was getting underway. It also unfolds against the backdrop of scrutiny over donations linked to the party, including an ongoing parliamentary investigation over a multimillion-pound donation from cryptobillionaire Christopher Harborne in 2024. Farage denies any wrongdoing.
Speaking to CBS News at the party’s conference, Zia Yusuf, a spokesperson for domestic affairs, downplayed any immediate blowback the allegations would have on the party’s internal operations.
“Look, Reform has had many great people who have helped get us to where we are. And I have no doubt, given the talent pipeline that I do have visibility of, both at parliamentary level, potentially, and beyond it, we will withstand this, and ultimately, ultimately will come out strong on the other side,” Yusuf said.
On Thursday night, Channel 4 aired the investigation that it said was carried out by an undercover team of journalists from a group called Verbatim, which was founded by journalists from the Centre for Climate Reporting.
The investigation follows one journalist who poses as the British-educated son of a wealthy American businessman from Wyoming, who both appeared eager to support the party, which shares aspects of ideology and policy positions with elements of the MAGA movement, as well as other right-leaning populist movements around the world.
British law regards a permissible donor to a U.K. political party as either a U.K.-registered voter or a company. In the scenario that unfolds in the undercover investigation, the son is a permissible donor, and the father is not.
Secretly filmed footage purports to show the two party aides arranging donations from the undercover journalist to fund the commissioning of a number of political polls. According to Channel 4, the donations added up to 32,500 British pounds, which is about $44,000.
Some of those polls later appeared in news articles for British newspapers such as The Telegraph and the Times of London. The articles, which reflect favorably on the party on issues such as its fortunes in local elections and support among labor union members, do not mention how Reform allegedly commissioned the polls.
Jukes is heard telling the undercover journalist that the donation made a “huge impact” for the party while not “showing up anywhere in public records.”
Orr denied Reform’s involvement in the polling, saying in a video posted to social media an “independent person had paid an independent pollster.” “No money reached Reform UK at all, no donation reached Reform UK at all — whether it was in cash or in kind,” he said.
James Orr attends a Reform UK press conference on Aug. 6, 2026, in London. Leon Neal/Getty Images
The investigation also includes a discussion between Jukes and the journalist on how to circumvent electoral law to secure a separate foreign donation to the party of 500,000 British pounds, or about $675,000. Channel 4 says that donation was never made.
The investigation culminates in a four-way lunch between the journalist posing as the son of the American businessman, an actor playing the businessman, Jukes and Farage.
During that meeting, Farage appears to have knowledge that the funding for the polls came from the businessman, and does not appear to be concerned when the son proposes the method by which the 500,000-pound foreign donation could reach the party, saying, “Thank you. Well, both of you. Thank you.”
Jukes released a statement to BBC News calling the report “entrapment over a prolonged period of nearly a year by foreign-funded climate change activists.”
“I totally deny any wrongdoing but have stepped back from politics in order to clear my name,” Jukes said.
In a statement to Sky News, Orr said, “I have agreed to step down from my current role at Reform UK pending the outcome of the party’s internal investigation into the conduct of the program, with which I will cooperate fully.”
At least two of Reform’s opponents, the ruling Labour Party and the centrist Liberal Democrats, have written to the Metropolitan Police, alleging breaches of electoral law.
In a statement to CBS News, the police said it was aware of reporting “involving political party donations” and alleged breaches of British law relating to polling.
The police have not launched an investigation so far, saying it would “assess the matter and any information provided to us.”
The U.K.’s Electoral Commission, which regulates party and election finance, confirmed it was in contact with the police.
“The law requires political parties to report all permissible donations they accept with a value over £11,180 and all impermissible donations over £500,” the commission said. “Information about any potential attempt to evade the controls on donations is for the police to consider.”