Nigel Farage’s party received two donations of £36 million each from Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, two billionaires from the cryptocurrency sector. A windfall that reignites the debate on private funding of British political life.
Two donations of £36 million sterling, totaling £72 million: Reform UK did not see such a windfall coming. The donors, Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, both made their fortunes in cryptocurrencies. Nigel Farage’s party can now consider its financial future with unprecedented serenity.
These payments notably cover Farage’s security costs, who will no longer have to draw from the £5 million he himself had received as a gift. Champagne and oyster lunches intended to solicit contributions of £500,000 from donors residing abroad also belong to another era. The informal threshold now seems set at eight figures.
The irony of the situation is not lost on anyone: if the Labour Party or the Conservatives had received comparable sums, Reform would have denounced a political system locked by great fortunes and parties turned into cash vending machines. But since the money is now going into the party’s coffers, the tone is very different. No outrage, no warnings against the influence of the super-rich on the democratic process.
It was Robert Jenrick who was tasked with publicly defending these donations in front of journalist Laura Kuenssberg. The former minister, whose name remains associated with a case in which he helped save millions for press magnate Richard Desmond, thus found himself advocating for funding that his own allies would have vilified if it had benefited their opponents.
