On Tuesday this week, Peter Geoghegan, who writes the investigative Substack newsletter Democracy For Sale, had a genuine scoop: that there were internal concerns within Reform about Nigel Farage’s decision to accept a £5 million “unconditional gift” from a Thai-based crypto billionaire.
Isabel Oakeshott, Reform-backing journalist and fiancée of the party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, has been publicly dismissive of criticism of Farage’s bung, telling her employer, Talk, earlier this year: “I honestly don’t see why it’s anyone’s business how Nigel paid for a house. Sometimes your friends look after you. There can be money in friendship.”
But Geoghegan has now unearthed correspondence between Oakeshott and a senior Reform figure shortly before the 2024 general election in which she said that she thought Harborne was “untrustworthy” and that she had concerns about his money.
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“I never liked Christopher Harborne. I think he’s untrustworthy. I don’t know about his money,” said Oakeshott according to correspondence published by Democracy for Sale. Neither Oakeshott nor Harborne, who were approached for comment by the newsletter, have yet responded.
But somebody within Reform appears to have a subscription to Democracy For Sale. For, within a day, Geoghegan received an email from Reform’s press office to inform him his application to attend the party’s annual conference, which begins on Thursday in Birmingham, had been declined.
“Thank you for your media accreditation application for the Reform UK 2026 National Conference,” read the email. “Unfortunately, on this occasion, your application has been unsuccessful.
“Please note that the full conference and speeches will be streamed live across Reform UK’s social media channels.” What a remarkable coincidence!
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Reform, of course, has form for this. Last year the party sent an identically-worded email to the New World’s own political editor, James Ball, turning down his application, despite him having registered in good time and previously receiving a confirmation email saying that “you have successfully registered” for Reform’s 2025 National Conference. Two days before the event, however, Reform UK pulled Ball’s accreditation.
Fortunately, there should be no such problem for more Reform-friendly media organisations. GB News are expected to turn up in Birmingham mob-handed – at least, for those editorial staff who have avoided recent swingeing cuts – helped by the fact that many of their presenters do not need media accreditation, also being Reform MPs.
Meanwhile, while the Times is increasingly persona non grata in Reform circles for its exposés of the party’s finances, its sister radio station is pushing its coverage hard. Listeners to Times Radio are being fed regular adverts for how it will be “broadcasting from its conference every single day, with full live coverage of Nigel Farage’s speech”. It will be interesting to see if they do the same for the Liberal Democrats, who have roughly 14 times as many seats in the Commons.
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