Jenrick says he is ‘very confident’ the donations are ‘perfectly legal’
Sky’s Jenrick previously defended the donations, saying he was “very confident” they were “perfectly legal”.
When asked whether Reform will return donations if they are found to be violating the new law: “Who knows? I mean, if people try to do things in retrospect, then maybe.”
To recap, Reform UK has received a staggering £72 million from two crypto billionaires in the last 48 hours, the largest single donation in British political history.
Christopher Harborne’s £36 million donation, which he announced in the Telegraph yesterday, matches the donation made by fellow cryptocurrency investor Ben Delo on Friday.
Key events
Summary
This concludes the blog about politics for now. Here’s a quick overview of the basic donation history.
Reform UK spokesman Robert Jenrick insisted the two £36 million donations from Britain’s crypto billionaires were “perfectly legal” and “fully consistent with the law as it stands and the law in the future.”
It comes amid speculation about the exact timing and circumstances in which investors Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo gave money to the anti-immigration party, with both living outside the UK, at least until this year.
The Labor government currently has a bill in Parliament aimed at ending foreign influence in UK politics, which would limit donations from British expats who have returned to the country less than a year ago.
Housing Minister Angela Rayner warned that the law would be applied retrospectively – possibly to reform donations – and so if the funds did not comply with the new law the party would have to return the money.
Mr Rayner said the huge donations had drawn attention to the super-rich and those “who fund politics” in the UK.
Some political observers say Reform will be laughing all the way to the bank with these staggeringly large donations.
They will now have the money to greatly expand their campaign machine: placing candidates in all the seats, hiring campaign staff to manage races, printing flyers, renting billboards, filling Instagram and TikTok feeds, etc.
But my colleague Peter Walker also points out some of the reform’s shortcomings in his analysis, linked below.
What are the disadvantages of receiving £72 million?
“Firstly, every time Farage presents Reform as the voice of ordinary Britons, his opponents can argue that it is in fact a plaything of rich people, out of touch with everyday life to a degree almost unimaginable to most voters.
Delo and Harborne are strikingly similar: cryptocurrency billionaires who are either based overseas (Harbourn is in Thailand, although he is registered to vote in the UK) or previously (Delo recently returned to the UK from Hong Kong).
“The second and perhaps more serious concern about Reform is the renewed focus it is placing on Farage’s own finances, and the perceived cloud of villainy that has grown thicker around him and the party in recent months.”
Speaking of the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham has just completed a half marathon this afternoon – the Great North Run from Newcastle to South Shields – to raise funds for homeless charity Changing Lives.
He donated 15% of his first month’s salary to the group and promised to continue making monthly contributions.
Ending sleeplessness was a priority for Burnham, who made it his first pledge when he took office in July. Last month he also unveiled a national plan to get people off the streets by Christmas.
Trump asked about Ireland’s comments and called Burnham a “very nice guy”
The US President, during his visit to Ireland, was just asked about the British Prime Minister’s reaction to his remarks that he would “love” to see a united Ireland.
“I don’t want to cause any trouble, but I will tell you, I would really like to see it united,” Trump told reporters Saturday in Dublin, sitting next to the Irish prime minister.
“Now the UK will have something to say about this… but I think it would be great,” he said.
A few weeks ago, Burnham said that a referendum on Northern Ireland’s secession from the UK was “not on the table” – a position confirmed by Downing Street yesterday.
But only now Trump said: “Everyone says so. And then something happens.”
“By the way, I talked to him. I think he is a very good guy, unfortunately, he is inclined towards liberalism.”
He then said he believed Burnham was going to “drill in the North Sea, that’s my impression.”
Reiner: “Hundreds of people in black and balaclavas are intimidating and crossing the line”
Earlier on the BBC, Rayner was also asked about the surge in anti-migrant protests, including yesterday in Portsmouth, Tamworth and Glasgow, where face coverings were banned.
Police imposed the restrictions after the weekend of September 5-6, when hundreds of masked men in black blocked the entrance to the port of Dover and closed roads in Portsmouth, creating threatening scenes.
“We have made it clear that in this country there is a right to protest, but that does not give you the right to intimidate and act illegally… We have seen an uptick in divisions and it has made communities feel more vulnerable, and that is unacceptable,” Rayner said.
She also described the scenes earlier this week at a Portsmouth hotel as “totally unacceptable”. On Tuesday evening, about 40 masked men gathered outside the hotel, shouting slogans and banging on doors in the mistaken belief that the Pakistani youth cricket team staying there were newly arrived asylum seekers.
“This is completely unacceptable. This is intimidating behavior,” Rayner said.
“And I would say that hundreds of people walking down the streets, all dressed in black, wearing black balaclavas, is intimidating and crossing the line.”
During protests in Portsmouth yesterday, police tried to separate two groups of protesters as marchers chanting “Stop the boats” clashed with demonstrators holding “Stop the Far Right” and “Stand Up to Racism” signs.
As warnings about AI threats continue to make headlines this weekend, my colleague Dan Milmo wrote a less pessimistic piece on the topic in his article on artificial intelligence courses aimed at tackling youth unemployment in the UK.
The UK government is trying to tackle two of the biggest challenges facing the national economy: artificial intelligence and youth unemployment, and a pilot project in Preston includes offering an internship to Neats at the end of a three-week course.
You can read more about this here:
George Osborne calls for the UK to return to the EU customs union and boost trade
Elsewhere today, former Chancellor George Osborne said the British economy had “fallen off a cliff” after Brexit and that rejoining the European Union’s customs union would be the fastest route to recovery.
You can read more about this here
The minister says there is only a small chance that the target of building 1.5 million homes in England will be achieved.
Speaking to the media this morning, Angela Rayner also admitted there was very little chance the government would meet the 1.5 million square meter home target.
Labour’s commitment to build 1.5 million homes by the next election was a “stretch target”, the Commons secretary added, but said it was not being abandoned and she was “definitely not giving up”.
My colleague Jessica Elgot wrote about it in detail here:
Angela Rayner said she was glad artificial intelligence companies were “talking about the threats as well as the opportunities” after Elon Musk and Sam Altman backed calls for the industry to slow down, PA reports.
It comes after Anthropic boss Dario Amodei said he was concerned that AI was “developing significantly faster” since this summer.
Given the pace of development, Mr. Amodei is concerned that within six to 12 months, AI could lead a swarm that could take over the entire Internet.
The entrepreneur whose company is behind AI assistant Claude has shared a three-part plan to create a “balanced speed” technology.
Rayner told Sky News: “I’m glad these companies are also talking about the threats and opportunities that AI poses to us, and we have to work with our international partners, which is what we are doing.”
Calling the UK a “world leader” in AI safety, the Communities and Housing Secretary added: “We have put in place robust systems here in the UK, such as the AI Safety Institute, to ensure we build resilience so we can benefit and truly understand and protect against any risk.”
Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat told Sky News: “The speed of change is also incredible and this is where the government can allow for dialogue, but we simply don’t have the speed to keep up with the advances that are happening.
“And the reality is that we cannot legislate against mathematics.
“These are mathematical equations that are being developed at a faster and faster rate, and we need to maintain that ability to protect ourselves.”
£72m reform injection is equivalent to a whole year’s political donations
Let’s put this £72 million reform weekend windfall into context – not only is it the largest single donation to a British political party ever, but the equivalent of essentially an entire year of political donations in the run-up to the general election.
A total of £79 million was donated to UK political parties in 2023, according to the Electoral Commission. A further £84m has been committed in 2024, an election year.
This is only what has been publicly recorded. Reform also faces accusations that it tried to hide foreign donations. He denies any wrongdoing.
The data also shows how much has been donated to parties since the 2024 vote (not reflecting recent Reform donations).
Donations for July 2024 – June 2026:
– Tory: £37 million.
– Reform: £35 million.
– Labor: £21 million
– Liberal Democrats: 17 million.
– Greens: £1.9 million.