Farage speech delayed as Reform conference opens under donations scrutiny

Nigel Farage's keynote speech at Reform UK's Birmingham conference was delayed over what the Sun described as a security scare, as the party gathered amid continuing questions over its funding arrangements.

The conference opened with an appearance by Jordan Bardella, leader of France's National Rally, who hailed Farage for returning common sense to British politics and signed a pact with Reform to stop small boats permanently. The Independent reports the agreement commits both parties to sending migrants straight back. Cambridge University has launched a probe into James Orr following the donations sting that has overshadowed the event.

The machinery here is unusual. British political parties do not ordinarily sign international pacts on domestic enforcement questions - that is what treaties between governments are for. A party in opposition signing an accord with a foreign party to coordinate migration policy sits outside the constitutional order: it binds nothing, commands no border force, and cannot instruct the French state. What it does is reframe immigration as a question already settled between aligned movements, before either holds office to implement it.

What to watch: whether the donations investigation lands before Reform can move past it, and whether the Bardella pact acquires any operational meaning if Reform enters government or remains a conference flourish.