Reform UK has raised £9.3 million from private donations in the first quarter of 2026, a sum that dwarfs the fundraising of Labour and the Conservatives and is overwhelmingly drawn from cryptocurrency billionaires. The figure, published by the Electoral Commission, represents 44 per cent of all new funds received by political parties in that period.
The party’s haul, which more than doubled total private donations to politics compared with the same period last year, was driven by two major donors. Christopher Harborne, a British-Thai dual citizen and cryptocurrency and aviation investor based in Thailand, donated just over £3 million. Ben Delo, a British cryptocurrency entrepreneur and co-founder of the exchange BitMEX who is relocating from Hong Kong, gave £4 million, delivered in two lump sums of £2 million in January and March.
Between them, the pair accounted for a third of all private money flowing into British politics in the first quarter. Their combined £7 million sits alongside a further £1 million from David Grainger, a biotechnology executive and venture capitalist who is a partner at the life sciences firm Medicxi. Other donors included Navroz Udwadia, co-founder of the investment firm New Wave Global; a company owned by Paul Mackings, the leader of Reform UK on South Tyneside council, which donated £111,000; and Maria Rost, who appears to be the wife of US crypto and insurance investor John Rost and has given the party £130,000. Nicolas Homsy, who has had business links to the Middle East, gave £50,000, and RMB Associates, run by nightclub owner Robin Birley, brother of Zac Goldsmith, donated the same amount. Bassim Haidar, a former Conservative donor, has contributed £150,000 since last year.
The crypto billionaires behind Reform’s war chest
Christopher Harborne has become Reform UK’s largest single donor, with total donations exceeding £22 million by April 2026, including £9 million in the third quarter of 2025 and £3 million in the first quarter of this year. He owns approximately 12 per cent of Tether Limited, the company that issues the Tether stablecoin, and his estimated fortune in the Sunday Times Rich List 2026 is £18.2 billion. Harborne, who has lived in Thailand for more than 20 years, previously donated to the Conservative Party.
Ben Delo, who co-founded BitMEX, was pardoned by Donald Trump in March 2025 after admitting to violating the US Bank Secrecy Act because his platform lacked anti-money laundering controls. He described his £4 million donation to Reform UK as his first act of political activism and has stated he will move back to the UK from Hong Kong to support the party financially.
The influence of these donors has drawn scrutiny. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over a £5 million personal gift he received from Harborne in early 2024. Farage failed to register the gift, initially claiming it was to pay for his security and later describing it as a reward for campaigning for Brexit. He purchased a property valued at £1.4 million after receiving the cash. Farage has maintained the money was an unconditional, non-political personal gift and said he had no need to declare it.
Regulatory responses and concerns over influence
The government has announced a £100,000 annual cap on political donations from British citizens living abroad, part of the Representation of the People Bill, which also bans cryptocurrency donations. Both Harborne and Delo have indicated they will seek ways to circumvent the cap: Harborne through a court challenge or by returning to the UK, and Delo by relocating to Britain. The bill also aims to lower the voting age to 16, expand accepted voter ID, and ban foreign actors from interfering in elections. An independent review into foreign financial interference in UK politics, led by former senior civil servant Philip Rycroft, made recommendations to the government by the end of March.
Susan Hawley, executive director of the Spotlight on Corruption campaign group, said the figures exposed “the scale of big money flowing into British politics and raise serious questions about who is funding our political parties”. She warned that “time and again, we see a small number of wealthy individuals and opaque corporate structures playing an outsized role in financing our democracy. That risks undermining public trust and fuels the perception that the rich can simply buy political influence, bypassing and undermining our democracy.”
Jackie Killeen, director of regulation at the Electoral Commission, noted that while the UK political finance system has high levels of transparency, “there are parts of the system that need strengthening, and we have highlighted the need for changes to the law for some time”. She said the government’s proposed reforms in the Representation of the People Bill “could strengthen donation controls and help ensure voters have confidence in the political finance system”.
The concentration of funding in a small number of billionaires contrasts with other parties. The Conservatives raised £4.36 million in the first quarter, boosted by a £1.1 million donation from Mary V Doran. Labour raised £4.05 million, with regular donors including David Sainsbury and Gary Lubner, the former CEO of Autoglass parent company Belron, who has given £4.5 million to Labour in the past year, motivated by his opposition to Brexit and his praise of Keir Starmer’s efforts to tackle antisemitism. The Liberal Democrats raised £2.19 million and the Green Party £162,500.
GB News payments and media earnings
Separately, a new analysis by the investigations outlet DeSmog has found that GB News, the rightwing television channel jointly owned by hedge fund manager Sir Paul Marshall and the Dubai-based investment firm Legatum, has paid more than £1 million to Reform MPs. Farage has earned over £700,000 from the channel since becoming an MP in July 2024, including £479,993 in direct payments. Reform MP and party chair Lee Anderson has earned over £300,000, with his register of interests showing £100,000 a year as a GB News presenter since March 2023. Ofcom has previously investigated GB News for breaching broadcasting rules on impartiality, and the channel has been accused of becoming “Reform TV” by hiring party figures as presenters and mirroring its talking points.
Farage has become the UK’s highest-earning MP, amassing over £2 million on top of his £94,000 annual salary in less than two years. His principal employer outside Parliament is GB News, but he also earns significant income as a brand ambassador for gold bullion firms and as a Daily Telegraph columnist. He uses a private company, Thorn in the Side Ltd, to receive payments for his GB News work, a practice that has been criticised as a tax avoidance measure. MPs on the standards committee are currently considering whether to limit or ban earnings from media jobs.
