Arron Banks - Reform UK Donor and 2025 West of England Mayoral Candidate | Reform Watch

Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 1966) is a British insurance businessman and political donor. He co-founded the Leave.EU campaign with Richard Tice and became one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party, bankrolling Nigel Farage's campaign for Brexit after switching from the Conservatives in 2014. His business interests have included Motorcycle Direct, Brightside Group, Southern Rock Insurance, GoSkippy and Eldon Insurance, alongside mining interests in southern Africa and holding companies based in Gibraltar and the Isle of Man. In November 2018 the National Crime Agency opened an investigation into the source of £8m donated to Leave.EU; in September 2019 it found no evidence that criminal offences had been committed, and in 2020 the Electoral Commission accepted he did not break electoral law. He has faced scrutiny over reported meetings with Russian embassy officials before the 2016 referendum, which he denies amounted to any wrongdoing, and over a 2019 tweet about the climate activist Greta Thunberg. He brought a defamation claim against the journalist Carole Cadwalladr, partially succeeding on appeal in 2023, an action described by press freedom organisations as a strategic lawsuit against public participation. He stood as Reform UK's candidate in the 2025 West of England mayoral election, finishing second to Labour's Helen Godwin.