Elon Musk once intended to support the Reform Party in the UK, which has benefited.

Written by: James Woolcock, Lucy White, Bloomberg

Translated by: Saoirse, Foresight News

Key points:

  • The Reform Party in the UK, led by Nigel Farage, received £10.3 million in donations between July and September, the highest among all political parties in the UK during that period.

  • A record donation of £9 million from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne has funded the party, bringing Harborne's total contributions to over £22 million since the Reform Party was established.

  • This substantial donation has raised concerns about the influence of wealthy donors on politics, with Transparency International UK calling for an annual cap on individual political donations.

The Reform Party led by Nigel Farage in the UK received more donations in the third quarter than all other parties in the UK, thanks to a record donation of £9 million (approximately $12 million) from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne—this indicates that businesses and wealthy individuals are taking the party's leading position in polls seriously.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg from the UK Electoral Commission, this populist party received a total of £10.3 million in donations during the period from July to September; the ruling Labour Party led by Keir Starmer received £2.2 million, and the main opposition party, the Conservatives, received £4.7 million, and the above data does not include public funds provided to opposition parties.

Nigel Farage spoke in London on December 4, photographer: Dan Kitwood (Getty Images)

Christopher Harborne is not only an important donor to the Reform Party in the UK but has also regularly donated to the Conservatives over the past 25 years. His donation this time is the second-largest single political donation since the UK Electoral Commission established its online database in 2001— in 2022, John Sainsbury, upon his death, left £10 million to the Conservatives, making it the largest single donation in the database.

Surge in donations to the Reform Party in the UK

£9 million in donations has injected momentum into the party led by Nigel Farage:

Source: Electoral Commission

Despite fluctuations in quarterly political donation data, the Reform Party in the UK has raised more funds than all other major parties in the UK, indicating its growing position in the political landscape of the UK. Although the party holds only 5 seats in the House of Commons, which has 650 seats, it has consistently ranked first in national polls since April this year and achieved significant victories in the local elections in May.

Data from the UK Electoral Commission shows that the vast majority of new funds for the Reform Party come from Christopher Harborne—since the party's establishment, he has donated over £22 million to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party. In last year's legal documents, Harborne revealed that he holds 12% of the shares in the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, which has the same parent company as the world's largest stablecoin issuer Tether.

Rose Zussman, Senior Policy Manager at Transparency International UK, stated: "This record-breaking donation indicates that UK political parties' dependence on a few super-rich individuals has reached an astonishing level." She called for an annual cap on individual political donations and pointed out: "When a single donation reaches such a massive scale, it only reinforces the public's belief that money has the greatest voice in the corridors of power."

Oscar Townsley, founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency derivatives trading company A1X, made his first donation of £30,000 to the Reform Party in the UK; other significant donors include:

  • Claudia Harmsworth (wife of Daily Mail owner Jonathan Harmsworth) donated £50,000;

  • Bassim Haidar (Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire who has made large donations to the Reform Party in the UK multiple times) donated £130,000 this time;

  • Nick Candy (real estate developer and current financial officer of the Reform Party in the UK) donated £490,000, bringing his total donations to the party to £990,000, and he recently publicly stated that he has fulfilled his pledge of £1 million in donations.

Nigel Farage and Nick Candy, photographer: Betty Laura Zapata (Bloomberg)

In addition, Heathrow Airport Holdings, which manages the largest airport in the UK, is a sponsor of the Reform Party's annual conference, with a sponsorship donation worth £36,000; the Reform Party also received a donation of £100,000 from Sotheby’s UK’s real estate department, owned by former banker George Azar.

Political activities require funding support to advance national campaigns, and the core issue facing the Reform Party in the UK is: can it convert its high support in polls into the actual ability to win elections before the next election in mid-2029? Last May, the party won hundreds of local council seats, two mayoral positions, and control of 10 local governments in local elections, and is now working to achieve even better results in the upcoming local elections next May (including the Welsh Parliament and Scottish Parliament elections).

The current two-party political system in the UK is breaking down, and the 'transition period' after the election has become a 'fundraising urgency period' for parties to compete for local seats to prove their legitimacy. Polls show that the support rates for the five national parties in the UK have all reached double digits, and the winner of the next election is very likely to need to form a coalition to govern.

Nigel Farage has stated that the goal is to make the Conservative Party 'no longer a national party,' but despite extensive lobbying efforts, he has yet to attract the majority of funders from the Conservative Party; despite Farage performing well in polls, the target set by financial officer Nick Candy to 'raise tens of millions of pounds for the party' has not yet been achieved—though he secured some support from Conservative donors earlier this year and personally donated £500,000 this quarter.

At the beginning of this year, Elon Musk expressed interest in donating to the Reform Party in the UK, but due to publicly supporting the extremist Tommy Robinson on the social platform X, he had a public dispute with the party's leadership, and ultimately no cooperation was reached.

This article was completed with assistance from Emily Nicolle and Anna Irrera.