Overview
- Electoral Commission data published on Thursday shows Reform UK took about £9–9.3 million in private donations in the first quarter of 2026, the most of any UK party that period.
- Two donors dominated that haul: Christopher Harborne gave £3 million (accepted 23 January) and Ben Delo gave £4 million in two £2 million payments in January and March, together providing roughly £7 million or about 75% of the quarter’s total.
- The UK government applied a new annual cap of £100,000 on donations from foreign-based individuals and introduced a moratorium on crypto donations at the end of March following the Rycroft review, and many large donations arrived in fiat just before those rules took effect.
- Parliament’s standards watchdog has opened a formal inquiry into whether Nigel Farage should have declared a separate £5 million gift from Harborne in 2024, and donor backgrounds — Harborne’s reported Tether stake and Delo’s 2022 guilty plea and later pardon — have intensified concerns about provenance and influence.
- Donors and Reform UK are adapting: Delo plans to relocate to the UK to avoid the overseas cap and Harborne has signalled possible legal challenges, a dynamic that could test the new rules and shape party fundraising and public trust in the months ahead.