Revealed: Man at centre of Reform donations sting is ex-Walsall schoolboy

Dan Jukes stepped down from his role as Nigel Farage’s communications adviser following an expose broadcast on Channel 4 news on Thursday night (September 3).

Mr Jukes, 30, who grew up in Rushall, was filmed introducing the Reform leader to an actor posing as a wealthy American supporter, who was offering to make a donation via his Anglo-American son, who was really an undercover journalist.

After the footage became public Mr Jukes and fellow party official James Orr immediately “stepped aside” from their positions pending an investigation.

Mr Jukes first rose to national prominence as an 18-year-old elections officer for the UK Independence Party’s (UKIP) youth wing, Young Independence.

At the time, Labour’s shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna remarked that UKIP voters felt disconnected from wider society because they were unable to perform certain basic tasks on a computer, such as sending an email. The teenager responded by urging young UKIP activists to prove him wrong by bombarding the shadow minister with emails, until his inbox could take no more. The stunt was reported with some amusement in the national press.

Former Walsall councillor Graham Eardley, who was a member of both UKIP and later Reform, recalls him as being very committed to his politics from an early age.

“He grew up in Rushall, but then moved to London when he went to university, and it was there that he met Nigel Farage,” he said.

“He was a really big Villa fan, and was seriously into his politics. About 2019, when the Brexit Party had just started, he worked with Nigel Farage when they tried to set up their own TV channel on YouTube.”

Mr Farage, who has denied any wrongdoing, spoke on Friday of his sadness that Mr Jukes had been forced to leave his role.

“I don’t like it at all. I’ve worked with Dan very closely for many years, many, many years, and I described it as loose pub talk, and that’s what it was, because what he said simply wasn’t true.

“He got put into a position and he should never have said what he did. I believe the investigation will find he should never have said one or two of the things that he said.”

Responding to the video conversation of him with the undercover team, Mr Farage said that at no point did he agree to accept any donation, and actually questioned whether it would be above board.

He admitted it was “not a good look” on the opening day of Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham.

Reform UK chairman Lee Anderson said an investigation would now take place into how the undercover team managed to gain access to Mr Farage, but said it was unlikely there would be any way back for either Mr Jukes or Mr Orr.

Former UKIP MEP and Dudley councillor Bill Etheridge, now with the Conservatives, expressed sympathy for Mr Jukes, and said he had been badly treated by Reform.

“On a human level I feel very sorry for Dan Jukes,” he said.

“A decade of loyalty repaid by being thrown under the bus.”