Overview
- Reports on Saturday said Ben Delo donated £36 million to Reform UK and Christopher Harborne announced an equal gift, producing the largest individual party donations on record in the UK.
- The two donations have pushed Reform UK's reported receipts far above those of the Conservatives and Labour this year and materially strengthened the party's campaign war chest.
- Ben Delo is a BitMEX co-founder who pleaded guilty in the U.S. in 2022 to breaching financial rules and was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025, facts that have intensified scrutiny of his gift.
- The Metropolitan Police and a parliamentary inquiry are actively investigating possible irregularities, including an earlier undeclared £5m payment to Nigel Farage and allegations that party figures sought to conceal foreign funding.
- Under UK law donations from overseas are banned but there is no statutory cap on donations from domestic individuals, a gap that has renewed calls from opposition parties for limits, faster Electoral Commission oversight, and clearer rules ahead of the 2029 general election.