Reform UK's Robert Jenrick faces fresh accusation from campaign donor

Robert Jenrick's handling of donations to his failed 2024 Tory leadership campaign has come under fresh scrutiny, 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.

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, and whether they breached electoral law that bars foreigners from making political donations.

Phillip Ullmann, the UK businessman who allegedly acted as a conduit for the funds, told the FT that he had told the politician "about Gary Klopfenstein, that he was a wealthy American in the US who was willing to donate".

In his first public comments on the alleged circumstances of Klopfenstein's involvement, Ullmann 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".

"No one ever said anything was wrong with accepting the money," Ullmann added, saying that he himself had "no knowledge of donation rules".

A company linked to Ullmann, which allegedly channelled Klopfenstein's donations, was Jenrick's biggest single donor.

Jenrick, who has since defected to Reform UK, has previously denied any wrongdoing and said he had no knowledge of Klopfenstein's alleged involvement in the donations.

Lawyers for the MP said in May that Jenrick had "never met, spoken to, or had any contact" with Klopfenstein.

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

Jenrick and Armstrong did not respond to requests for comment on Ullmann's statement. Kruger and Klopfenstein declined to comment.

Kruger is now a Reform MP and in charge of the party's preparations for a future government. Armstrong remains a close aide of Jenrick, who is now Reform's Treasury spokesperson.

Both Kruger and Armstrong had previously spoken to Klopfenstein, according to people familiar with the matter.

In April 2023, Kruger attended an online meeting with Klopfenstein, two of the people said. Ullmann was also present at the meeting, which was to discuss different types of business models and related to a rightwing think-tank co-founded by Kruger, they added.

Armstrong had a meeting with Klopfenstein and Ullmann in October 2023, as previously reported by the FT.

The meetings raise questions about whether both Kruger and Armstrong are likely to have been aware of Klopfenstein and his links to Ullmann at the time of the donations to Jenrick in July 2024.

In the months following the meeting with Kruger, between May 2023 and April 2024, Klopfenstein's company Innovyz USA donated $86,300 in instalments to Kruger's think-tank, the New Social Covenant Unit, according to payment data seen by the FT. It is legal for foreigners to donate to think-tanks under UK electoral law.

Ullmann's comments come after a bruising period for Reform, which is facing multiple investigations into its financial affairs, including a recently expanded police probe into donations to the party.

The Met has not named any suspects in its separate probe into the donations to Jenrick's campaign, which was launched in July after the Electoral Commission said it had referred "evidence of potential offences outside our remit" to the force.

Ullmann said that the Met had not contacted him.

The Spott Fitness, the company linked to Ullmann, made four donations worth £100,000 to the campaign in July 2024 and September 2024. Of this, £37,500 is alleged to have originated from Klopfenstein via his company Innovyz.

In July 2024, Ullmann asked Klopfenstein in an email, seen by the FT, to "go 50/50" on a donation to Jenrick's campaign.

Klopfenstein agreed to "partner" on "supporting Robert", and Innovyz transferred £37,500 to The Spott that month in two payments.

Jenrick ultimately lost the leadership contest to Kemi Badenoch.