Chris Mason: Reform winded by donations row as insiders call for shift in approach

"It makes us look a bit like a pirate ship," a senior Reform figure acknowledges privately, deeply frustrated that after a year in which they say the party has "radically professionalised" the events of the last few days could still happen. It was the recurring conversation throughout Reform UK's conference in Birmingham: the consequences of the undercover filming broadcast by Channel 4 News which has cost two senior party figures their jobs, at least for now. How much damage does it cause to Reform? And what does it tell us about them? "A key part of the appeal of us is the sense of us being cavaliers. Those who ask the boring questions. We need more of them," this same senior figure adds. The story of Reform over the last 12 months can be summarised in three words: defections, elections and money. Farage says his aides' donor comments were 'loose pub talk' Reform donations row overshadows party's moment to lay out big ideas Farage threatens to overhaul Lords and judges to meet his pledges Defections, those who leave one party and join another, have been a big part of the party's growth in the last year – not least the recruitment of former Conservative cabinet ministers Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman. Elections have been as well - Reform's gains in the English local elections and the devolved parliament elections in Wales and in Scotland. But so too has money. The backdrop to this conference was the swirl of questions about money even before Channel 4 News', and Verbatim Investigations', endeavours. In the hour or two before its broadcast on Thursday night, senior Reform figures, including those directly caught up in it, projected a sense of being relatively relaxed about it. Once it was broadcast, things changed. There was fury, I am told, and very quickly there was a sense of its gravity. "A few bottles of red were had, and we knew we had to act," is how one source described it to me. The conversations went on into the early hours. Firstly, there was anger that it would drown out a conference that has been months in the planning. And yes, it has dominated conversation here in Birmingham. Secondly, there was widespread concern about the image it projected, the impression it would leave. Reform wants to project itself as ready to run the country. Some saw James Orr's work as head of policy as key to that professionalisation.