Robert Jenrick faces fresh accusations from campaign donor as Reform’s woes continue

Reform MP Robert Jenrick is facing fresh accusations over his handling of donations which he received during his failed 2024 Tory leadership campaign, after the UK donor at the centre of the row claimed that the politician and his senior campaign staff knew about the involvement of an overseas donor.

Under UK electoral law, foreign donations are banned, requiring all gifts over £500 to come from permissable sources with a genuine UK connection.

It’s not the first time that Reform MPs have found themselves in hot water over donations from foreign sources.

The FT reports: “A US-based businessman, Gary Klopfenstein, allegedly contributed a total of £37,500 to Jenrick’s campaign in July 2024 via a UK company.”

The Metropolitan police is currently investigating the donations, which were made through Phillip Ullmann, the UK businessman who allegedly acted as a conduit for the funds, and who told the FT that he had told Jenrick “about Gary Klopfenstein, that he was a wealthy American in the US who was willing to donate”.

He also claimed that ‘two senior figures on Jenrick’s campaign — Danny Kruger, then manager of the campaign, and Sam Armstrong, then head of press — “already knew who [Klopfenstein] was”.

While the allegations over Jenrick’s donations concern his time as a Tory MP they will nonetheless cause embarassment for Reform UK given that Jenrick along with Kruger are now Reform MPs.

It also comes at a time when Farage himself is facing scrutiny over his party’s acceptance of millions of pounds from crypto-billionaires.

Klopfenstein himself is an investor who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the US in relation to separate issues in July 2024.

Jenrick has denied any wrongdoing.