Christopher Harborne, the crypto billionaire who gave £5m to Nigel Farage, has entered the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time at number six, with an estimated fortune of £18.2bn. The Thailand-based businessman is now the richest British-born person on the list, which ranks the 350 wealthiest UK residents and Britons abroad.
Other first-time entrants include Noel and Liam Gallagher, whose reunion tour helped them amass an estimated £375m, and Emily Eavis, daughter of Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis. David and Victoria Beckham also join the billionaire club, making David Britain's first billionaire sportsperson with a combined wealth of £1.2bn, boosted by his stake in Inter Miami and a property empire.
The Hinduja family tops the list again with £38bn. The combined wealth of the UK's 350 richest individuals rose by 1.4% to £784bn, while the number of billionaires increased by one to 157. Compiler Robert Watts noted significant changes, with many foreign billionaires leaving the UK and a rise in British nationals residing abroad.
Harborne's £5m gift to Farage, initially described as covering personal security costs, has sparked a parliamentary standards investigation into whether it should have been declared as a donation. Farage later called it a 'reward' for his Brexit campaigning.
