In the long tradition of political movements undone not by grand betrayal but by quiet assumption that rules apply to others, Nigel Farage's Reform Party finds itself diminished this week. Senior aides departed after undercover recordings captured discussions about routing foreign money into the party — a practice prohibited under UK electoral law — leaving Farage to explain, at his own conference, that he simply had not been paying attention. The episode raises a question older than any particular scandal: when a leader claims ignorance of what happens in his name, does that absolve him, or d