Reform UK have received a record donation of £9,000,000 from former Conservative and Brexit donor Christopher Harborne.
The donation, made in August this year, is Reform’s biggest ever and is the largest political donation on record from a living person.
Harborne is a Thailand-based aviation entrepreneur and crypto investor who has donated millions to the party in 2019 and 2020 when it was known as the Brexit Party.
Before this, he was an ally of Boris Johnson and made a £1m donation to the Tories when Johnson was prime minister, the Independent reports.
Between 2001 and 2022, he donated almost £2m to the Conservatives, according to Companies House.
The news of the former Tory donor’s huge cash injection to Reform comes the day after reports that Nigel Farage is eyeing up an electoral pact with the Conservatives ahead of the next general election.
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With the £9m donation, Reform has received a total of £10.5 million for the third quarter of the year, while the Tories received £6.9 million.
Meanwhile, Labour had just £2.5 million and the Lib Dems £2m, according to Electoral Commission data released on Thursday.
This means Reform have accepted almost as many Q3 donations as the other three main parties combined.
The only larger political donation on record in British political history was from Lord Sainsbury, who left £10 million to the Conservatives in his will in 2023 after his death.
The donation comes ahead of the local elections in England and national assembly elections in Scotland and Wales next May.