Reform UK receives second £36m donation from crypto billionaire amid finances investigation

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Reform UK has secured a second £36m donation from a cryptocurrency billionaire. Thailand-based entrepreneur Christopher Harborne, the party's largest donor, said on Saturday (September 12) he was matching the contribution made by Ben Delo. The first enormous sum came from Mr Delo, a British billionaire, who last year received an unconditional pardon from US President Donald Trump over a Bank Secrecy Act violation. Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter In response, Labour MP Phil Brickell said: "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". Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has previously supported a cap on donations, only to backtrack following opposition from unions, reports the Mirror . Kyle Taylor, executive director of Fair Vote UK, said the donations exceeded all union contributions to the Labour party over the past six years. He added: "£36m 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 £14.2m 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." 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. Campaign group Best for Britain has called on PM Mr Burnham to review political funding laws after . Cary Mitchell, one of the group’s executive directors, said: “These record-breaking sums, which total more than seven times the largest amount ever given to a political party in our history, should spark huge concern among everyone seeking to protect the UK’s politics from being bought and sold to the highest bidder. “Labour had the opportunity to act more quickly to tighten funding rules and preserve our democracy, and Andy Burnham must immediately review political funding regulations given this seismic increase of crypto money flowing into our democracy.”

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