The cryptocurrency tycoon Christopher Harborne has given £36m to Reform UK, matching a donation from fellow billionaire Ben Delo.
The pledges mean Reform has received a cash injection of £72m in just 24 hours. They are jointly the largest donations made to a UK political party and have intensified calls for restrictions on funding from individual donors.
Reform’s leader, Nigel Farage, said he was “honoured and humbled” by the payments, which come at a time when the party is facing intense scrutiny regarding its funding.
The Metropolitan police is conducting an inquiry into Reform’s finances and Farage is facing a parliamentary standards investigation into a £5m gift from Harborne, made before he was first elected an MP in 2024. Reform UK and Farage have denied any wrongdoing.
After Harborne’s donation was announced on Saturday afternoon, Bridget Phillipson, chair of the Labour party, said that Farage couldn’t “buy his way out of the sleaze and scandal he and Reform UK are drowning in – or the multiple police investigations that are ongoing into Reform’s dodgy finances”.
Rachel Millward, the deputy leader of the Green party in England and Wales, accused the prime minister, Andy Burnham, of “flip flopping” on a cap on domestic donations. Burnham, who previously appeared supportive of a cap, has faced lobbying from trade unions who fear restrictions would inhibit their ability to donate to the Labour party.
The Labour MP Stella Creasy tabled an amendment to the representation of the people bill, which is progressing through parliament and has its second reading in the Lords on Monday.
Creasy proposed an annual cap of £100,000 on most domestic donations. Although it attracted the support of 60 MPs from various parties, it was not put to a vote.
“The Labour party urgently needs to find a spine and support a tight cap on donations from individuals,” Millward said.
Announcing the new donation on Saturday, Farage said that Delo and Harborne “know that we are the only party that can turn the country around and win the next general election – thanks to their generosity, we are now able to fight that election on a level playing field.”
Harborne said: “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.
“I have already accumulated enough wealth for the rest of my life. I am committed to putting that to work for Britain and humanity as a whole. I want the same as everyone else in Britain: for my children and grandchildren to have the chance to live happy and productive lives here and be rewarded for their hard work.
“At the next general election, people will have to vote for the party that they think will best get that done and I’m making a donation very clearly to the party that I believe will do so.”
Harborne is a citizen of the UK and Thailand, while Delo recently moved back to the UK from Hong Kong. As part of the new legislation, donations to political parties from Britons living abroad or those who have returned to the country within the past 12 months will be capped at £100,000 a year, with the rules backdated to March.
The Guardian understands Delo and Harborne are registered to vote in the UK, although it is unclear exactly how long each has been on the electoral roll. Their donations have amplified concerns about the influence of “mega donors” on British politics.
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Margaret Hodge, a Labour peer, said she was “gobsmacked” to hear of Harborne’s donation and said it “reinforces the urgency of us dealing with the issue”. Hodge, who favours a cap, said there was now a “real danger” that British politics could be “captured by rich individuals”.
“There has been a reluctance on Labour’s side to confront this danger because of the trade unions,” she said. “This highlights what a lot of us have been saying – you have to tackle the issue. We can’t leave it alone. Self-interest shouldn’t dominate.”
Many senior Labour figures, including Hodge, believe union funds could be classified as a series of individual donations from members.
“Union members could tick a box saying, ‘I wish to contribute [to the Labour party]’, so it becomes an individual donation, rather than a union [donation],” Hodge said, adding that she believed this would “strengthen democracy” and challenge the power of union leaders.
However, this proposal is likely to be condemned by opposition parties and transparency campaigners.
Shaun Bowler, who runs the campaign group Wake Up GB, has proposed financing political parties through a government funded civic voucher, in which voters could choose to allocate a small sum to the party of their choice.
“The unions funded the Labour party to compete with Conservative funding,” he said. “If you take funding away from the Conservatives and everyone else, it’s a level playing field.”
