Nigel Farage revealed that his family urged him to quit politics in the face of a barrage of questions about the legitimacy of donations to his party.

The Reform UK leader admitted that recent months had been 'difficult', saying: 'For the first time, really, in my political career, I haven't got my family's support. They would rather I packed it up and walked away.'

Mr Farage made his remarks after the start of his annual party conference in Birmingham was overshadowed by an undercover sting broadcast on Channel 4 which appeared to show senior aide Dan Jukes and Reform's head of policy James Orr suggesting a way around electoral law to secure foreign party donations – one of which would have totalled £500,000.

The aides have both stood down pending the outcome of an internal probe into the claims. Reform denies any wrongdoing and say the party has taken no illegal money.

There is also an ongoing Commons standards investigation into a £5million donation to Reform from the crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne.

Mr Farage told the BBC that despite his torrid few months, he had not been tempted to take the advice to resign, saying: 'When you've got your family begging you to, it's not easy. But I think we're through that now. 

'I believe we're through that bad period. I think the general public do understand that I have got some unusual circumstances that others don't have to deal with.'

He added that he 'frankly wasn't even listening' when he met the fake donors in the undercover filming, saying: 'I was just there to come and say hello.'

He criticised the suspended advisers, saying they 'should have done basic checks...nobody, nobody should be brought to me, unless they've been vetted'. 

In a separate interview with GB News, Mr Farage said that the sting had been part of a co-ordinated attempt to target his party.

He said: 'There has been a heavy, co-ordinated attempt by political parties, media outlets to try to sully the name of Reform. And I suspect it won't go away. I asked the voters of Clacton a few weeks ago what they thought of all this, and they returned me with a massively increased majority.'

His comments came as the electoral watchdog faced calls to seize hard drives from Reform UK over the undercover filming, which was carried out by a group called Verbatim Investigations – founded by journalists from the Centre for Climate Reporting.

If the police launch a criminal investigation over the footage the Electoral Commission (EC) would have the power to 'obtain information' from the party's HQ, including the confiscation of equipment. The powers are contained in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000).

An offence under that law includes whether any money is transferred for the benefit of the party – which could be 'any study or research organised on or behalf of the party'.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have reported Reform to the Metropolitan Police over the allegations. The force said on Thursday it would assess the matter and any information provided to it.

Tory MP Joe Robertson said: 'It appears that Reform may have broken the criminal law in relation to foreign and hidden donations. The Electoral Commission and the police should launch an investigation without delay and take steps to preserve evidence by seizing hardware from Reform premises.'

And Tory MP Charlie Dewhirst added: 'There are clearly unanswered questions here – not least who are the other individuals Mr Jukes claims may have given potentially illegal donations to Reform UK?'

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