75% of Reform UK’s donations have come from just three rich men

Calls grow for donation caps as Democracy for Sale research reveals that three-quarters of Reform’s funding comes from a trio of wealthy donors

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is more reliant on super-rich backers than any major party in modern British political history.

New research from Democracy for Sale shows that three-quarters of all donations to Reform have come from just three men: Christopher Harborne, Jeremy Hosking and Richard Tice.

Together, the trio have provided £23 million of the £30 million donated since Farage set up the party - then the Brexit Party - in 2019.

On Thursday it emerged that Harborne, a Thailand-based businessman with major cryptocurrency interests, donated £9 million to Reform in September - the largest political donation by a living individual in British history.

We may never know how Reform spends this money. In the UK, political spending is only recorded and regulated in a general election year.

Our findings have intensified calls for Labour to introduce a cap on political donations in its forthcoming Elections Bill.

Harborne alone has now provided more than two-thirds of Reform’s total funding. He donated over £10 million to the Brexit Party in 2019 - much of it after Farage stood down candidates in Conservative-held seats, clearing the path for Boris Johnson’s “stonking majority”.

Harborne has also donated to the Conservatives, and gave £1 million to Johnson’s private office. He even accompanied the former prime minister on trips to Ukraine.

Harborne is also heavily involved in cryptocurrency, which Farage has talked up repeatedly in recent months.

Reform has also been bankrolled by property developer and former party leader Richard Tice. The Boston and Skegness MP, who stepped aside this summer to enable Farage’s return mid-campaign, had been propping up the party with loans since 2020.

Earlier this year, £613,000 of Tice’s historic loans were converted into donations. He also routed more than £1.7 million to Reform through Leave Means Leave, a company he founded with Tory donor John Longworth in 2016 to push for a hard Brexit. The firm, now rebranded as Britain Means Business with Tice as its sole director, donated £500,000 to Reform ahead of last year’s general election.

Reform has received a further £1.7 million from hedge-fund manager Jeremy Hosking, including £250,000 last year. Hosking has become one of the most significant funders of Britain’s populist right. He gave millions to Vote Leave before the Brexit referendum and more than £4 million to Reclaim, the deposit-losing vehicle led by actor-turned-culture warrior Laurence Fox.

The latest Electoral Commission figures show Reform received almost £10.3 million in donations in the last quarter — but when Harborne’s £9 million is removed, the party raised less than either the Conservatives or Labour. Property mogul Nick Candy’s touted effort to attract dozens of “mega donors” has so far fallen flat.

Still, some traditional Conservative circles appear to be drifting towards Reform. Claudia Harmsworth, Viscountess Rothermere and wife of Daily Mail owner Jonathan Harmsworth, recently donated £50,000.

Harborne’s record-breaking donation has renewed calls for donation caps — pressure that began last year when reports surfaced that Elon Musk was considering giving $100 million to Reform.

Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski yesterday said Harborne’s gift “is exactly why we need a cap on political donations. Democracy should never be for sale. Every party should compete on ideas, not the size of their donor spreadsheet.”

Steve Goodrich, head of research at Transparency International UK, said Reform’s reliance on three super-wealthy men for 75% of its income showed how “politics risks becoming an exclusive club, with some parties increasingly dependent on a very small group of incredibly rich donors.”

“When asked, the public say the wealthy have too much influence in our democracy and something needs to be done. The Government has an opportunity to respond by taking big money out of politics in the forthcoming Elections Bill.”

We are currently running a petition with 38 Degrees calling for a cap on political donations.

More than 62,000 people have signed. If you haven’t already, can you sign and share?

Democracy for Sale has repeatedly exposed dark money and hidden influence in British politics. We have many more stories in the works and leads to follow.

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