Overview
- Ben Delo announced a £36 million donation on Friday and Christopher Harborne matched it with a further £36 million on Saturday, giving Reform UK £72 million in two days and setting a new record for single‑party gifts.
- Reform UK says it vetted both donors, that the payments comply with current Electoral Commission rules, and that it will use the funds to hire campaign managers and professional staff ahead of the next general election.
- The Metropolitan Police are assessing and have opened inquiries into alleged irregularities in Reform’s funding, while the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards continues to probe an earlier undisclosed £5 million gift from Harborne to Nigel Farage.
- Ministers are advancing the Representation of the People Bill that would cap certain overseas‑elector donations at £100,000 and enforce a moratorium on cryptocurrency donations, and the bill’s retrospective clauses could require parties to return funds judged unlawful.
- The donors’ backgrounds — Delo’s 2022 US guilty plea and 2025 pardon and Harborne’s prior large payments — have sharpened calls from opposition parties and some MPs for tighter limits on large private donations and clearer verification of donor residency and payment methods.