Crypto tycoon donates record £36m to Reform UK
Reform UK has been warned ‘”questions aren’t going away” about their finances after a second £36 million donation from a cryptocurrency billionaire.
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Thai-based businessman Christopher Harborne, the party’s biggest donor, said on Saturday he was matching the donation made by Ben Delo.
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The first mammoth sum came from Mr Delo, a British billionaire, who last year was given an unconditional pardon by US President Donald Trump over a Bank Secrecy Act violation.
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Responding, Bridget Phillipson MP, Chair of the Labour Party, said: “Farage can’t buy his way out of the sleaze and scandal he and Reform UK are drowning in – or the multiple police investigations that are ongoing into Reform’s dodgy finances.
“The serious questions Farage and Reform need to answer aren’t going away – in fact they’re just piling up.
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“It’s time Farage and Reform came clean with the public, fully co-operated with the ongoing police investigations and prove they’re not just in it for themselves.”
Labour MP Phil Brickell added: “Party financing in this country is out of control.The government needs to act via the Representation of the People Bill to restrict spending limits and donations”.
The PM, who has previously backed a cap on donations, only to row back after opposition from unions.
Kyle Taylor, Executive Director of Fair Vote UK, explained the donations were more than all union donations to the Labour party for the past six years.
He said: “£36 million from a single person to a single political party is a mind-blowing amount of money. Most people will work their entire lives and never earn anything close to that, yet here we have one individual able to put that sum behind the political party they want to succeed. Make no mistake, this is a game-changing sum for Reform.
“To put the scale of this into perspective, all UK political parties combined accepted £14.2 million in donations excluding public funds between April and June this year. One individual is now giving more than two and a half times that amount to a single party.”
Speaking to The Telegraph about his donation, Mr Harbone said: “Whilst I have been making donations to Reform of around £1m a month, Ben Delo told me he was going to make a record donation of £36m. My competitive spirit inspired me to match it, so that is what I’ve done. And I hope others may join us.”
Harborne added: “There will be a lot of media speculation regarding this donation. So what do I expect in return for my donations? Nothing. No peerage, no policy change, just a Party that is ready for government.”
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Mr Harborne was behind the £5 million gift to Mr Farage in 2024 before he was elected to the Commons which has led to an investigation by Parliament’s standards watchdog into the Reform UK leader.
The twin donations comes after summer dominated by scrutiny of Reform’s finances, including the launch of a criminal investigation into allegations it breached rules on political donations.
Reform UK denies any wrongdoing and has said it will co-operate fully with the probe.