It’s a clash that two senior figures in Reform, both granted anonymity to discuss plans in the making, signaled to POLITICO they are well up for having.
Farage has been dogged for months by allegations of undeclared donations, and more recently lost two top aides who were caught in an undercover cash sting. A skirmish over the record-breaking £72 million in gifts would be another opportunity to reclaim Reform’s underdog positioning.
“These are legal donations, the proposed law doesn’t affect them, and we will carry on spending our legal donations,” one of the senior Reform figures told POLITICO.
“Also you should remember, we have a great record against the government in court,” the official added, a reference to Reform successfully seeing off Labour plans to delay local elections in order to reshape local government.
A person advising Reform believes the party could take the challenge against applying the legislation retrospectively all the way to the European Court of Human Rights, the Politics at Sam and Anne’s podcast reported.
Another person close to Reform, who believes an “almighty fight” is coming in the courts, acknowledged the “optics” of that might look off, given that Farage wants to pull the U.K. out of the international court.