Cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne said on Saturday that he had donated £36 million (US$49 million) to Britain’s anti-immigration Reform Party, matching an already record contribution to Nigel Farage’s party a day earlier as he prepares for the upcoming election.
The donation gives the veteran Brexit party £72 million from two donors in less than 48 hours at a time when it is facing allegations of irregularities in its funding, which it denies.
This figure exceeds what the ruling Labor Party or the opposition Conservative Party spent during last year’s election campaign, according to Electoral Commission figures. This money will help the Islah Party, whose lead in the opinion polls has declined due to funding allegations, to win the support of voters before the next elections scheduled for 2029.
Harborne, already Reform’s biggest donor, revealed the contribution in a Telegraph article, saying fellow cryptocurrency investor Ben Delo’s pledge the previous day had inspired him to match it.
“What do I expect in return for my donations? Nothing. No peerage, no change in policy, just a party ready to take over government,” Harburn wrote in the article.
Delo’s donation on Friday had already surpassed the previous record of £10 million left to the Conservatives by British businessman John Sainsbury, who died in 2022, according to the Electoral Commission’s online database.
