The total amount of £72 million exceeds the amount received by all UK political parties last year.
This means Reform raised around £86 million in 2026, compared with around £7 million raised by both Labor and the Conservatives.
But who is Christopher Harborne and why is he giving Reform so much money?
Who is Christopher Harborne?
Christopher Harborne is a British businessman and investor in his 60s.
Living in Thailand, he holds Thai citizenship under the name Chakrit Sakunkrit.
He was educated at Westminster School, an elite private institution in the vicinity of Westminster Abbey, and then attended Downing College, Cambridge.
He is also believed to have attended INSEAD business school.
Mr Harborne described himself on his LinkedIn profile as “an engineer, a pilot and an investor”.
He is well known as an aviation entrepreneur and has made significant wealth by managing and investing in companies.
Two of his businesses – AML Global and Sherriff Group – are related to aircraft and aviation, and through these businesses he reportedly controls aviation fuel supplies and private jet operations.
In addition, Harborne had a stake in defense technology company Qinetiq, which reportedly generates around 80% of its arms-related revenue from Ministry of Defense (MoD) contracts.
Harborne has a long history of donations to right-wing and centre-right political parties in the UK, amounting to tens of millions of pounds.
He donated more than £6 million to the previous reform version, the Brexit Party, in 2019-20, making him the party’s biggest donor in that period.
In August 2025, he gave Reform UK £9 million, the largest single donation from a living person to a UK political party in history.
This beat the record set by supermarket magnate Lord David Sainsbury of £8 million to the Liberal Democrats in 2019.
Lord David’s cousin, Lord John Sainsbury, left £10 million to the Conservatives in his 2023 will.
An investigation is currently underway into Harborne’s £5 million gift to Nigel Farage in 2024, before he became an MP.
£36 million donation
Writing in the Telegraph this weekend after his record donation, Mr Harborne said the party needed funds for its infrastructure, saying it “needs more money than can be provided by membership fees alone”.
He added: “What do I expect in return for my donations? Nothing personally. No peerage, no change in policy, just a party ready to take over.
“I have already accumulated enough wealth to last me the rest of my life. Now I intend to use it for the benefit of Britain and humanity as a whole.”