Late last night, as the political world tried to digest Channel 4 News’ undercover exposé of Nigel Farage, his henchmen, and the murky world of Reform UK finance, the Reform party dismissed the programme as a “hoax”.

This morning, however, as the investigation threatened to wreck their annual conference in Birmingham, Reform came down to earth with a bump. The party suspended Dan Jukes and James Orr. These are two of Farage’s most senior aides, who are apparently filmed in the programme plotting how to get round the law on foreign donations.

One can’t exaggerate the importance of these two men to Farage. This blow must be like losing one of his limbs. Jukes is his closest aide, who has been at his side for years, advising him minute by minute, briefing journalists – all-round indispensable. Orr is a more recent arrival, officially head of policy, though last night’s show suggests “head of plotting” might be a more suitable title.

Astonishingly, Orr is a Cambridge academic, theologian, and philosopher, though moral philosophy doesn’t seem to be his speciality. Both men are “not coming back”, according to Reform MP Lee Anderson. Anderson’s words imply that he and the party think Jukes and Orr have done something seriously wrong. But, hang on, I thought it was all a “hoax”?

And if Jukes and Orr are guilty enough never to return, shouldn’t Farage be suspended too? After all, the Channel 4 exposé carried out by Verbatim Investigations appears to show Farage condoning the scheme to break the law on overseas donations by channelling the money from a wealthy American businessman through his British son. Cleverly, the programme-makers gave Farage the opportunity to say: “No, this is wrong. This is illegal. This is against the law. I won’t allow it.”

But he said none of that. An honest Farage would have immediately condemned his colleagues, Jukes and Orr and their clever scheme. But no. The Reform leader mumbled his assent instead. So if Jukes and Orr are gone for good, then Farage should go too, again with no prospect of him “coming back”, to use Anderson’s words. Jukes, Orr and Farage all deny any wrongdoing, with Farage saying his party has “done nothing wrong”.

Indeed, I’d argue Farage’s responsibility is greater than that of Jukes and Orr. He is the dictator of Reform, with total control and no constraints on his power. Reform is a party all about cheques, not checks. And this latest disaster suggests that Farage presides over a stinking, corrupt cesspit in which close aides know that in agreeing to illegal schemes, they’re complying with what he wants.

The Channel 4 story is far more serious than the £5m personal gift to Farage from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne, made just before the 2024 election, and exposed by last April. There was nothing illegal in Harborne paying that money, or Farage accepting it. Farage may have broken Commons rules on accepting donations, but even then the case is arguable.

But the Channel 4 story appears to show a clear intention by three senior members of the Reform high command to break the law. What’s more, it chimes closely with other stories exposed over the last few months whereby hundreds of thousands of pounds were allegedly channelled through Fiona Cottrell, the mother of another Farage aide, George Cottrell (known as “Posh George”), the young man jailed in America 10 years ago for wire fraud.

It’s true that all parties have their scandals – selling peerages, for example, awarding PPE contracts to cronies, and fraud in election expenses, which the Tories committed in defeating Farage in South Thanet in 2015 (exposed by me for 10 years ago).

But it’s the sheer scale of Reform’s dodginess which stands out. Dishonesty and deceit seem, if any of these recent reports about them are anything to go by, a way of life. It’s less than a year since another of Farage’s close allies, Nathan Gill, was jailed for 10 years for taking bribes from Russian agents to make pro-Russian statements in the European Parliament and the media.

A Reform spokesperson claimed that Gill had no role in Reform. Yes, he did – he was leader of the party in Wales. Falsehoods appear to come as naturally to Reform as they do to Donald Trump, Farage’s great hero.

Farage shouldn’t survive as leader, but he probably will, while Jukes and Orr are led off to the scaffold. The Channel 4 story will contribute to the drip, drip, drip in voters’ minds, contributing to people’s growing sense that there is something extremely dodgy about this political party. It’s increasingly clear that a Farage government could be as breathtakingly corrupt as the Trump regime in Washington.