The footage, recorded in July by the investigative group Verbatim, shows James Orr, then Reform's head of policy and a Cambridge professor, discussing potential problems with future donations from Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo. A Verbatim reporter was posing as a potential donor at the time.
Orr was suspended last month after Channel 4 broadcast earlier Verbatim filming in which he appeared to discuss ways around funding laws to allow a donation from a US-based donor. The matter is under police investigation and he remains suspended, although Reform has released its own report clearing Orr and another official of wrongdoing.
In the new footage, Orr said the party was too reliant on Harborne and Delo as "two big whales" and described the proposed changes as the establishment trying to "kneecap" the party. He called the planned law, which puts a £100,000 limit on donations from overseas donors and applies to donations made after March 2026, "a retrospective law, which is unheard of", and predicted a fight in the courts: "We'll push it through judicial review."
On whether the two men would be caught by the cap, Orr said Delo would probably meet the residency test unless the law required tax residency, in which case "Ben is stuffed". Harborne, he said, was "probably more of a challenge", adding that after moving back to the UK "he can't do anything for 12 months". Harborne had been living in Thailand until registering to vote in Hampshire this summer; Delo has long been resident in Hong Kong, though he has been on the UK domestic register for some years.
Orr also referred to the "complicated backstory" of Delo, a British-born billionaire convicted in the US in 2022 for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business and later pardoned by Donald Trump. Orr said he had spent time on Delo's yacht in Greece this summer.
A Reform UK spokesperson said: "We are 100% confident both donations are legal and won't ever have to be handed back." Orr did not respond to a request for comment; he has previously denied wrongdoing and dismissed Verbatim as "politically motivated actors trying to discredit a political opponent through dubious legal means".
Lawyers for Harborne described Orr's comments as private speculation that did not represent established facts. Delo's lawyers said he would not be drawn into speculation about a conversation he was not party to, or the legal effect of a law yet to be passed. Reform has said it intends to take legal action against Verbatim and its directors over the undercover filming.