Reform UK said it was “very confident” the record £72 million donations it made over the weekend were “entirely legal”.
But Housing Minister Angela Rayner warned the funds could be retrospectively capped if they do not comply with new political donation laws.
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The reform was given two separate donations of £36 million two crypto billionaires, Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo.
Talking to Sunday Morning with… Rachel Johnson Speaking on Sky News this morning, Reform’s economics spokesman Robert Jenrick said the donations were a “breakthrough moment” for the party and would allow Reform to be “battle-ready” for the next general election and work to “prepare for government”.
However, speaking about the same programme, Rayner, who is the government minister responsible for democracy and elections, said any action taken following the government’s plans to limit donations from Britons abroad “will be taken retrospectively”.
She added that donors who have been overseas and “recently returned to the UK… are also subject to” the review of donation rules.
But she refused to say directly whether the two £36 million donations for reform could be capped.
Analysis
There is a temptation to view Labor’s warnings about record donations to reform as sour grapes.
After all, Reform has just received an extraordinary £72 million from two wealthy donors – money that could change its ability to campaign in the next election.
But the important point is that the government was already considering tightening the rules even before these donations were announced. The Rycroft Review on foreign financial influence was launched in December last year and published in March. The government then said it would introduce an annual cap on donations from overseas voters of £100,000.
The proposed rules go beyond simply banning someone living abroad from writing a huge check. They will also continue to restrict some people returning to the UK until they have lived here for a full calendar year.
Crucially, the government intends to apply the new limit retrospectively to donations made since March 25 this year. Therefore, donations that fall under the new rules and exceed the established limit may ultimately be returned.
This does not mean that Reform donations are now illegal. It also doesn’t mean that any of this particular £36 million donation will necessarily be caught. This will depend on the donors’ individual circumstances, including where they live, when they returned to the UK and how they are registered.
But it does create uncertainty about what on paper is a huge new financial advantage for Reform.
It is also important to remember that in Britain there is still no general limit on the amount a UK resident can donate to a political party.
These multi-million pound donations will inevitably lead some to question whether any single individual can have such a large financial influence in British politics.
Rayner said Labor was legislating to ensure “safe elections that are meant for the people and that you can’t buy your way into our democracy”.
The Representation of the People Bill, which passed the House of Commons earlier this month and will be debated in the House of Lords on Monday, includes proposals to cap donations made by Britons based abroad at £100,000.
The restriction will also apply during the first year of donors returning to the UK. These measures will be implemented retroactively to March.
Photo: Ben Delo and Kamalaya Foundation
Harborne was believed to be living in Thailand and Delo was said to have recently returned to the UK from Hong Kong.
But Sky deputy political editor Sam Coates reported that Harborne and Delo returned to the UK before the March lockdown, meaning their mega-donations will not be capped.
A Reform source said the party is “100% confident that both parties are legal and will never have to be returned.”
Asked whether the public would view Reform as a “collateral” for the two crypto billionaires given the size of their donations, Jenrick told Sky News that it was “total nonsense” and that he had “never spoken to any of these people about cryptocurrency”.
“They asked for nothing in return for their donations,” he added, promising that neither Delo nor Harborne would receive rewards in return for their donations if Reform entered government after the next election.
An interesting clash is brewing over restrictions on political donations.
The government is only halfway through adapting Philip Rycroft’s election finance review into law. What’s interesting is that it attempts to retrospectively legislate donations abroad.
Rycroft’s review was published in March. But the government went beyond the wording of the review in the Representation of the People Bill, which was passed by the House of Commons and is now in the House of Lords.
Rycroft did not actually recommend capping donations in his review, saying, “The question of a blanket cap on donations” is “beyond my jurisdiction.”
The bill would set a new annual limit of £100,000 for foreign donors, and for people who have recently returned to the UK there would be a limit of £100,000 until they have lived in the UK for at least one full calendar year. The restriction will be retrospective, with different provisions relating to March and July.
If the donor was still living abroad after these restrictions and is still abroad, or subsequently returned to the UK, and then gave £36 million to Reform this week, the bill could currently require the money to be returned.
But I am told that both men are believed to have returned to the UK before the march. This would mean that any changes to the rules would not apply to their donations.
Speaking on the same programme, Conservative shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat said that while he welcomed donors “to support political activities”, each political party “has a responsibility to check the sources of its own donations”.
The two major donations – the largest in British political history – are the latest chapter in the ongoing story of Reform’s finances.
Party leader Nigel Farage previously received a personal gift of £5 million from Harborne in early 2024. He is currently being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over whether he should have declared the gift when he became an MP in July 2024. Farage denies any wrongdoing.