The Metropolitan Police is said to be looking into claims that a donation to Robert Jenrick's Tory leadership campaign came from a foreign donor, which is illegal under UK election laws09:41, 09 Jul 2026Updated 18:33, 09 Jul 2026A spat has broken out between Robert Jenrick and his former party after reports that police are investigating a political donation given to his Conservative leadership campaign in 2024.The Metropolitan Police is said to be looking into claims that a donation to the campaign came from a foreign donor, which is illegal under UK election law. Mr Jenrick said the claims, reported in the i newspaper, are "entirely false", and accused his old party of introducing him to the donor involved.However, the Tory party shot back, and claimed they had explicitly warned Mr Jenrick about the rules on overseas donations.Today, Mr Jenrick denied any wrongdoing and said the Conservative Party had done the due diligence on the cash. Speaking on LBC, he said: “I stood for leader of the Conservative Party, back in the day. The Conservative party introduced a donor to me. They checked out whether or not this bloke was legit or not."There's now been a suggestion that maybe part of his donation was from an overseas company, that's being looked into. I've co-operated fully. I've not done anything wrong whatsoever and I've not actually had any contact from the Metropolitan Police."I have no idea whether or not they're looking into it or not, but they're certainly not told me one way or another.”Allegations relate to a £100,000 donation to the Newark MP's leadership campaign from UK company Spott Fitness. It is claimed that around a third of this money - some £37,000 - originated from a US business associate of Ullmann, Gary Klopfenstein, who has since been convicted of fraud.A Conservative Party Spokesman, said: “During the Conservative leadership contest, all candidates and their teams were reminded that any donations they received must be permissible. Foreign donations were, and remain, illegal.“The Electoral Commission referred this matter to the Metropolitan Police as they have cause to believe criminal offences may have been committed, by the funnelling of donations to Mr Jenrick from a foreign source through a permissible UK company.”In April, Labour called on Mr Jenrick's campaign to return the alleged money from Klopfenstein after it was reported that the Electoral Commission was looking into the donation. The Guardian reported that the elections watchdog had referred evidence to the police.A Met Police spokesman said: “We have launched an investigation following a referral from the Electoral Commission on Tuesday, 6 January concerning donations connected to a political party’s leadership campaign. The investigation remains ongoing.”The police have not confirmed whether its probe relates to a specific individual.Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: “The Electoral Commission rightly referred this matter to the Metropolitan Police who are now investigating."The law is crystal clear that foreign donations are illegal, and the true source of a donation must be declared. The public deserves the truth about this donation.”Mr Jenrick said: “These allegations are entirely false, but it is no surprise that an establishment determined to stop Reform from delivering the change that this country so desperately needs would resort to making these demonstrably untrue claims. I have had no contact with the MET police whatsoever in connection with this matter.”A spokesman for Jenrick said: “The suggestion that Robert knowingly accepted impermissible donations is an untrue, politically motivated smear, put about years later by the Conservatives, despite the fact that Mr Ullman was introduced to Robert by a Tory MP, and had his donations’ permissibility checked by the party."Robert and his campaign team complied with all electoral laws when receiving the donation received from Spott Fitness Ltd in 2024. Mr Jenrick has never met, spoken to, or had any contact with Mr Klopfenstein, nor was he aware of any connection between him and Mr Ullman’s donation until he was contacted by the Electoral Commission."He fully cooperated with the Electoral Commission inquiry, providing detailed records that categorically disproved these smears in 2025.”An Electoral Commission spokeswoman said: "We have been investigating donations connected to a 2024 leadership campaign. Evidence of potential offences outside our remit was referred to the Metropolitan Police Service on 6 January 2026. Our investigation is paused pending their investigation into this matter."We don’t discuss the details of our investigations and cannot comment further at this stage."‌Parliament's investigation into allegations Mr Farage failed to declare a £5million gift from Christopher Harborne was suspended as he is no longer an MP. If he wins the Clacton by-election, it will continue. In the event the commissioner finds against him, if the penalty is serious enough, Clacton voters would have the opportunity to vote to trigger a by-election themselves.The Reform UK leader resigned as an MP in protest over questions about his finances, vowing to run again in his constituency in a "people versus the establishment" by-election. However, after the other parties branded the move a stunt and refused to field candidates, and he now faces campaigning on his own against the comedy character Count Binface.Chancellor Rachel Reeves has made Mr Farage’s resignation as an MP official, saying “if he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won’t stop him”.Article continues belowA Labour source said: "Farage can run but he can't hide. It speaks volumes that he'd prefer the humiliation of fighting a bin for six weeks over the truth coming out over his undeclared gift and convicted criminal backers. If he manages to beat the bin, he'll face a much bigger challenge of answering the growing rap sheet against him."