Reform UK receives record £36m donation from Ben Delo

What happened

A £36m payment from cryptocurrency billionaire Ben Delo has given Reform UK the largest single political donation in British history, putting the party’s finances at the centre of a renewed argument over wealthy donors and their influence.

Delo has chosen to provide the money immediately rather than through regular payments. He described the sum as the equivalent of £1m a month through to the latest point in 2029 at which Labour could call the next general election.

The timing is deliberate: Delo wants the full amount transferred before any further restrictions on large donations can intervene. The government is examining how to address the influence of exceptionally wealthy contributors, alongside legislation targeting donations from British citizens living overseas.

Nigel Farage welcomed the contribution as an endorsement of his leadership and Reform’s ambitions for government. It arrives while the party faces police investigations into funding and Farage faces a separate parliamentary inquiry concerning a personal gift.

The record previously included a £10m legacy left to the Conservatives. Christopher Harborne, a cryptocurrency investor based in Thailand, gave Reform £9m in a single donation last year, then the largest individual payment to a British party by a living donor. Delo’s latest contribution is four times that amount.

The background

Born in Sheffield and educated at Oxford, Delo helped establish BitMEX, a cryptocurrency trading platform. He has returned to Britain after living in Hong Kong, a move that places his political giving within the debate about restrictions on donors arriving from abroad.

His business career included a US criminal case over inadequate anti-money laundering controls at BitMEX. Delo pleaded guilty in 2022 and was convicted. US President Donald Trump granted him an unconditional pardon last year.

Delo’s support extends beyond Reform. He backs more than 50 organisations, as well as individuals and unaffiliated groups, across politics and public life. His activities have included providing meeting space at a base near Westminster Abbey.

Among those he has supported in kind is Rupert Lowe, the anti-migration MP competing with Farage for support on the right. Delo has also developed connections with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and former Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove.

Britain currently has no general ceiling on how much a UK-based donor may give a political party. The proposed restrictions on expatriates concern a different question: whether residence overseas, or a recent return to Britain, should limit the size of a contribution.

Labour has introduced a £100,000 limit aimed at British citizens overseas and recent returnees. Through the Representation of the People Bill, the government also wants people returning to Britain to remain subject to that ceiling for their first year back.

Earlier this month, Reform expressed confidence that Delo would not have to reclaim donations because of the overseas rules. His decision to provide the new funding in advance addresses the prospect of further restrictions, rather than spreading his support across the remaining electoral term.

What people are saying

Delo argues that Reform needs sufficient resources to compete with established parties. He said its recent difficulties had strengthened his view that it should devote more effort to getting ready for government and less to finding the money to compete.

His political motivation also reflects a wider criticism of Britain’s governing institutions. In April, he described England as his home and explained that his dissatisfaction with political elites had prompted him to become politically active for the first time.

Delo presents freedom of expression as a central concern. His lawyers have previously explained that the groups receiving his assistance sometimes hold opposing positions, and that offering money or premises does not amount to agreement with every view expressed by those recipients.

Farage portrayed Delo’s backing as recognition of Reform’s ability to change the country’s direction. Labour responded by arguing that additional funding did not answer the questions surrounding the party’s conduct, and called for full co-operation with police.

Stella Creasy, a Labour MP campaigning for a donations cap, urged the government on Friday night to use the legislation before the House of Lords to restrict domestic contributions. She said Delo’s single payment exceeded Labour’s entire spending at the last general election.

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart also demanded a cap, arguing that donations on this scale risked importing the influence of American political wealth into Britain. She called on Andy Burnham to act, after he had recently stepped back from supporting such a limit.

The investigations

Police announced an investigation on Thursday into allegations that Reform had breached rules on foreign funding. The inquiry followed a Channel 4 News broadcast the previous week involving undercover recordings of two senior party aides.

Those recordings appeared to show the aides discussing a route around electoral rules to obtain foreign donations. Reform denies wrongdoing and has said it will assist investigators. The allegations concern the handling and origin of funding, rather than simply how large donations are.

A Metropolitan Police inquiry is also examining payments made in the weeks before the 2024 general election. It covers direct donations from Fiona Cottrell, whose son George Cottrell is a longstanding associate of Farage.

That investigation also encompasses payments from a company controlled by Reform deputy leader Richard Tice. The company received £1m from Fiona Cottrell in June 2024, making the movement of money through a business another element of the police examination.

Separately, the parliamentary standards commissioner is investigating whether Farage should have registered a £5m personal cash gift from Harborne before the 2024 election. Farage maintains that it concerned his private life, not his political or parliamentary work, and therefore did not require registration.

What happens next

The next scheduled parliamentary step is Monday’s second reading of the Representation of the People Bill in the House of Lords. A second reading gives peers the opportunity to debate a bill’s overall principles before the detailed examination of its provisions.

Creasy wants that legislation to become the route for a broader limit on UK donations. That would extend the argument beyond the government’s residence-based restrictions to the size of contributions from donors within Britain itself.

The government has said it is considering measures to prevent a small number of wealthy people exercising excessive political influence. Keir Starmer previously avoided a universal donations cap, so the debate also concerns whether ministers will move beyond their earlier position.

Why this matters

For UK voters, the distinction between a party donation and a personal gift to a politician is important. Reform’s police inquiries concern compliance with funding law; the commissioner’s examination of Farage concerns parliamentary disclosure obligations. They address different responsibilities, even while contributing to the same political controversy.

For British citizens abroad or planning to return, the proposed one-year restriction would make residence relevant to the amount they could contribute. For parties seeking support from major UK-based donors, a wider cap of the kind advocated by Creasy and Smart would change fundraising rules beyond that expatriate group.