Two Crypto Billionaires Have Handed Reform £72 Million In 24 Hours - Reform Watch

Christopher Harborne has just donated £36 million to Reform UK, matching the record-breaking sum handed to the party by fellow crypto billionaire Ben Delo less than 24 hours earlier. The two men have now injected £72 million into Nigel Farage’s party. That is equivalent to around three-quarters of the money spent by every political party combined during the 2024 general election. Harborne described his contribution as a “philanthropic gift” and claimed he wanted “no peerage, no policy change”. Farage said the money would place Reform on a “level playing field” and fund hundreds of campaign managers. That defence is absurd. Funds assembled from thousands of supporters create a measure of democratic accountability. Reform has received enough money from two individuals to build a formidable national operation, giving those billionaires a degree of access and financial importance unavailable to ordinary voters. Harborne’s relationship with Farage makes the questions still more serious. He had already given £15 million to Reform and made a separate £5 million personal gift to Farage. The late declaration of that personal gift is now being examined by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Farage has meanwhile promoted crypto-friendly tax cuts and lobbied the governor of the Bank of England over digital currency policy. Harborne holds a substantial interest in Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin. Whatever assurances Reform issues, voters can see an industry funding a politician who has advocated policies favourable to that industry. These donations also arrive while Metropolitan Police detectives are investigating allegations concerning Reform’s finances, after senior party figures were filmed discussing ways foreign money could secretly fund party-commissioned polling. Reform denies wrongdoing. Transparency International UK’s Duncan Hames said the donations provided an “irrefutable case” for a cap, warning that just two people could buy British democracy before the next election. He is right. Labour must impose a hard limit on political donations before billionaire patronage becomes the price of competing for power. Reform’s £72 million windfall has exposed a political funding system that is dangerously vulnerable to capture.