Reform UK has raised £9 million in private donations in the first three months of the year, more than double the amounts received by Labour and the Conservatives, according to new figures from the Electoral Commission. The party’s haul is largely driven by two cryptocurrency billionaires, Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, who together contributed £7 million.
Harborne, a British-Thai dual citizen based in Thailand, donated £3 million, bringing his total donations to the party to £15 million over the past year. Delo, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur relocating from Hong Kong to the UK, made his first donation to Reform of £4 million. The pair’s donations account for a third of all private money flowing into British politics in the first quarter.
Reform leader Nigel Farage is under investigation by the standards commissioner for accepting a £5 million personal gift from Harborne, which he said was for security costs but later claimed was a reward for his Brexit campaign. Other donors include David Grainger (£1 million), Navroz Udwadia, and Paul Mackings, whose company donated £111,000.
Labour and the Conservatives each raised about £4 million from private donations in the same period. Labour’s top donors included David Sainsbury, Gary Lubner, and major trade unions, while the Conservatives received £1.1 million from Mary V Doran.
Susan Hawley of Spotlight on Corruption warned that the figures expose “the scale of big money flowing into British politics” and risk undermining public trust. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has reiterated plans to limit overseas donations and impose a moratorium on cryptocurrency donations, but has resisted a broader cap.
The Electoral Commission’s Jackie Killeen noted that the UK’s political finance system has high transparency, but acknowledged the need for legal reforms. Separately, analysis by DeSmog found that GB News has paid over £1 million to Reform MPs, including £700,000 to Farage and £300,000 to Lee Anderson.
