Exclusive: Elections Watchdog Could Investigate Crypto Billionaires' £72m To Reform UK

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Election watchdogs could investigate the £72 million in donations given to Reform UK by two crypto billionaires, HuffPost UK can reveal.

Labour MP Phil Brickell has asked the Electoral Commission to clarify whether Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne’s donations are permissible.

Brickell, who is chair of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption, said: “The British public deserve complete confidence that all political donations are lawful, transparent and come with no strings attached.”

It emerged on Friday night that Delo, who has moved back to the UK from Hong Kong, has given Reform £36m.

The following day, the party announced that Harborne had donated the same amount. It is unclear whether he has returned to the UK from Thailand, although he is understood to have registered to vote in Hampshire.

A law currently going through parliament would cap the amount of money overseas-based donors could give to UK political parties at £100,000.

Under the new rules, anyone wishing to give more than that would have to have been based in the UK for at least 12 months on March 25 this year.

Housing secretary Angela Rayner suggested on Sunday that Reform may have to give at least some of the money back if Delo and Harborne did not comply with the new law.

In a letter to Electoral Commission chief executive Dr Vijay Rangarajan, seen by HuffPost UK, Brickell says “it appears very likely that both donors were still registered overseas on - and for some time after - March 25, 2026”.

He added: “I would therefore be very grateful for swift clarification from the Electoral Commission on whether you see grounds for opening an investigation into the permissibility of the two £36m donations.”

Brickell, the MP for Bolton West, has also asked the Commission whether Reform may be forced to give back at least some of the money.

He said: “The British public deserve complete confidence that all political donations are lawful, transparent and come with no strings attached.

“The unprecedented scale of these donations raises important questions which require urgent clarification from the Electoral Commission.”

The Commission has been contacted for comment.

Meanwhile, Reform leader Nigel Farage has conceded that the donations may not be permissible under the new law.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “Both these donations are 100% compliant with the law today, of that there is no question whatsoever.”

Asked if Delo and Harborne were based in the UK on March 25 this year, Farage said: “I’m not going to go into their particular details. All I’m going to say is, with the law of the land as it stands, they are both compliant.

“Now, there is talk, and Angela Rayner was talking about this yesterday, there is talk of them retrospectively declaring donations illegally.

“Well, that simply cannot be.”

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