Reform UK leader Nigel Farage looks set to have the last laugh (Image: Getty)
They thought it was all over. But Nigel Farage is having the last laugh, because events over the past few days have shown he is still very much a contender for No 10.
It’s true that in recent months, the Reform UK leader has been rocked by a series of funding-related allegations. There was the £5million gift from Thai-based crypto tycoon Christopher Harborne. The gift itself was entirely legal and in no way against any parliamentary rules, but Mr Farage’s enemies claim he should have registered it, meaning details would appear on the House of Commons website.
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Then there was the undercover sting by Channel 4, in which senior Reform figures – who have since been suspended – were filmed apparently discussing ways to accept a £500,000 donation from a wealthy American, even though it would have been against the law. The donation was never made. But it all provided ammunition for Mr Farage’s enemies.
And there is some evidence that the mud constantly thrown at Mr Farage has dented Reform UK’s popularity, although this should not be exaggerated. Opinion polls suggest about 25% of voters still back Reform.
But now, Mr Farage is fighting back. Reform is receiving two massive donations, giving it a war chest to ensure British politics really does become a fair fight.
Because while all the focus has been on Reform, the other parties have been receiving huge sums of money from donors for decades.
Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne are giving Reform £36million each, making a total of £72million.
Mr Farage said the money would be used “for one purpose only: to make certain we are ready to form a government at the next election”.
He said Reform would fund “the best research and policy department British politics has ever seen” and recruit “the best minds in every area”.
And deputy leader Richard Tice said: “What these two donations are trying to do is to actually level the playing field.
“We’re relatively new, we haven’t had the vast donations over the last five to 10 years that Labour and the Tories have had, so we need to employ campaign managers up and down the country, we need to employ brilliant policy people, the best minds, in order to ensure that we have the best policies.”
In 2024, for example, the Conservatives received £15million from a body called The Phoenix Partnership, owned by businessman Frank Hester.
A hedge fund called Quadrature Capital handed £4million to Labour in the same year.
Ecotricity, owned by energy entrepreneur Dale Vince, gave Labour £3.6million.
And union UNISON gave Labour £2.7million while USDAW gave £2.2million, the GMB gave £1.9million, and Unite gave £1.8million.
All of that is just in one year. And those are only some of the biggest donations – there are many more.
This has traditionally been considered perfectly normal. And there’s nothing wrong with it. The only real alternative would be for parties to get more money from taxpayers.
As Mr Tice says, political parties need buildings and staff. They need to carry out research and develop policies. And they need representatives across the country to organise campaigns and print leaflets.
The traditional parties have this infrastructure. They need it, and they have to pay for it somehow.
But Reform is in exactly the same boat. It needs infrastructure, too, if British voters are to have the option of choosing a Reform government on polling day.
These two donations, mammoth though they appear, will give Mr Farage and his party a fighting chance at the next election – on something close to equal terms with the other parties.
Nigel Farage’s enemies thought they’d destroyed him – now he’s laughing at them
For Nigel Farage, the past few weeks have been anything but quiet.
The Reform UK leader has faced intense scrutiny over his party’s finances, questions surrounding political donations and renewed attacks from opponents. Yet just as critics were questioning whether the controversies could damage Reform’s momentum, the party received an extraordinary financial boost.
Two cryptocurrency billionaires have handed Reform UK a combined £72 million, with Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne each donating £36 million. Reuters reported that the two contributions arrived within 48 hours of one another, creating one of the biggest political funding stories in modern British politics.
For Farage, the timing could hardly be more significant.
The money gives Reform resources on a scale far beyond what the party has previously enjoyed. It can now invest in research, campaign organisation, staff and communications as it prepares for the next general election.
But the financial windfall has also intensified scrutiny.
The donations have prompted renewed debate about whether Britain’s political funding rules allow individuals to contribute sums of this magnitude. At the same time, Reform has faced allegations concerning foreign-backed political polling, allegations the party strongly denies.
The result is a curious political picture: Farage is simultaneously under greater scrutiny and in a considerably stronger financial position.
From political pressure to financial windfall
The £72 million announcement changed the conversation around Reform almost overnight.
Before the donations were revealed, attention was heavily focused on controversies involving the party’s organisation and finances.
Then came the announcement from Ben Delo.
The cryptocurrency entrepreneur said his £36 million donation was intended to help create what he described as a more level playing field between Reform and the established parties.
Within a day, Christopher Harborne announced another £36 million contribution.
Together, the donations represented a remarkable financial injection.
Reuters reported that the combined amount exceeded the campaign spending of both Labour and the Conservatives at the previous general election.
That does not guarantee electoral success.
Money can provide staff, advertising, research and infrastructure, but political parties still have to persuade voters and compete in a changing political environment.
Nevertheless, the financial transformation is difficult to ignore.
Why the donations matter
Reform UK has historically operated with considerably fewer resources than the major established parties.
The new money changes that calculation.
A large war chest allows the party to employ more researchers, campaign professionals and organisers.
It can also finance a much larger communications operation.
That could include online advertising, constituency-level campaigning, polling, policy development and digital content.
The Financial Times described the donations as changing the “mood music” around Reform, noting that the party could use the funds to scale up its operations even though money alone does not determine electoral outcomes.
For Farage, this represents a significant change in the environment in which he operates.
Instead of constantly explaining why Reform lacks the resources of Labour or the Conservatives, he can now point to an unprecedented fundraising haul.
The controversy has not disappeared
Yet the £72 million has not made the political controversy surrounding Reform disappear.
In fact, it has arguably intensified it.
The donations have prompted calls for tighter rules governing political funding.
The Guardian reported that Labour MPs were considering measures that could restrict certain large donations, while the government has been under pressure to address concerns about overseas-linked political contributions.
That creates a complicated situation.
Reform argues that the donations were lawful and that its wealthy supporters are not receiving political favours in exchange for their money.
Critics argue that contributions of this magnitude raise broader questions about the influence of wealthy individuals over political parties.
Those are competing political arguments rather than settled facts.
What is established is that the donations have placed the issue of political funding firmly back at the centre of Westminster debate.
Farage’s political survival
The headline claim that Farage’s opponents thought they had “destroyed” him is a political interpretation rather than an objectively measurable fact.
There is, however, evidence that he remains a central figure in British politics.
Reform continues to attract substantial attention, while Farage remains the party’s leader.
The recent financial developments have given him another reason to argue that Reform should be taken seriously as a national political organisation.
At the same time, polling does not provide a uniformly positive picture for Farage personally.
The Independent reported that a recent poll gave him a net favourability rating of minus 45, illustrating that his personal popularity remains deeply divided.
That distinction is important.
A politician can generate enormous political attention without necessarily being personally popular with a majority of voters.
Farage has built much of his political career around precisely that kind of polarising public profile.
A familiar pattern
There is a recurring pattern in Farage’s political career.
Periods of intense criticism have often been followed by renewed attempts to reshape the political debate.
His Brexit campaign made him one of Britain’s most recognisable political figures.
Later, Reform UK transformed itself from a relatively small political organisation into a serious challenger to the established parties.
The party’s recent financial windfall represents another stage in that development.
Whether it translates into greater electoral support remains an open question.
But it unquestionably gives Reform more capacity to campaign.
The £72 million changes Reform’s options
Before the donations, Reform had to make choices about where limited resources should be deployed.
After receiving £72 million, those constraints are considerably reduced.
The party can potentially expand its presence across hundreds of constituencies.
It can commission more research.
It can develop more sophisticated digital campaigns.
It can employ additional staff.
It can also spend much more time preparing policies ahead of the next general election.
Farage has previously presented Reform as a political movement challenging the established parties.
The new financial resources give the party an opportunity to build the organisational machinery normally associated with much larger political organisations.
But money brings new risks
There is another side to the story.
Large political donations inevitably attract scrutiny.
The more money a party receives, the more questions are likely to be asked about where it came from, who provided it and what expectations, if any, accompany it.
The £72 million donations have already triggered debate about whether Britain’s existing political funding system is adequate.
The Guardian reported that the donations had prompted discussion of possible limits on individual contributions.
Reform’s position is that the donations were legitimate.
The party has also said that the donors expect nothing in return.
That distinction will remain important as Parliament considers possible changes to political funding legislation.
Reform’s critics still have ammunition
The idea that Farage has completely escaped political difficulties would therefore be misleading.
Reform councillors have recently faced scrutiny over alleged links to a Facebook group associated with the Patriot Platform, according to the Guardian. Some councillors have denied or distanced themselves from the alleged connections.
Separately, the party has faced allegations relating to foreign-backed polling.
Reform has denied wrongdoing.
These controversies mean that the party’s financial success is taking place alongside continued organisational and reputational scrutiny.
The £72 million has not ended those arguments.
Instead, it has created an additional and very powerful story.
A stronger platform for Farage
What the money undeniably gives Farage is greater political capacity.
Campaigning is expensive.
Research costs money.
Professional staff cost money.
Digital advertising costs money.
Constituency organisation requires money.
The sudden availability of £72 million therefore gives Reform the ability to build infrastructure that would otherwise take years to develop.
It also provides the party with the resources to communicate its arguments on immigration, taxation, public spending and government reform much more aggressively.
Whether voters agree with those policies is a separate question.
The financial resources simply give Reform more opportunities to present them.
The battle over political donations
The donations have also exposed a broader disagreement about British democracy.
Supporters of large private donations argue that wealthy citizens should be free to support political parties they believe in, provided the donations comply with the law.
Critics argue that enormous contributions can give wealthy individuals disproportionate influence.
The Reform donations have therefore become part of a much wider argument about the future of political finance.
And there is an additional complication for Labour.
The governing party has its own significant funding relationships, particularly with trade unions.
The Guardian reported that Labour received substantial union funding while simultaneously facing internal pressure over whether donations should be capped.
Any major reform of the funding system could therefore affect more than Reform.
Farage’s next challenge
The financial windfall gives Farage an opportunity, but it also raises expectations.
With £72 million available, Reform will face pressure to demonstrate that it can turn money into a professional and effective political organisation.
That means building credible policies, recruiting candidates, strengthening local organisations and maintaining discipline among elected representatives.
Money cannot solve every political problem.
It cannot automatically resolve internal disputes.
It cannot eliminate controversy.
And it cannot guarantee support from voters.
But it can give a party the resources to attempt all those things on a much larger scale.
Why the story matters
The most important consequence of the £72 million may therefore be organisational rather than symbolic.
Reform UK has moved into a different financial category.
Two individual donors have provided the party with resources that can fundamentally alter how it prepares for the next election.
That development has also changed the political conversation around Farage.
Instead of discussing only the controversies surrounding Reform, Westminster is now debating the party’s unprecedented financial strength and what it might do with it.
His opponents may continue to attack him.
Critics may continue to question Reform’s policies, finances and political associations.
But the latest fundraising figures show that Farage remains capable of attracting extraordinary levels of financial backing.
The road ahead
The next phase will be closely watched.
Reform will need to demonstrate how the money is spent and how its enlarged organisation operates.
Parliament will continue debating political donation rules.
The party will remain under scrutiny over its finances and political conduct.
And Farage will continue to face the fundamental challenge confronting every political leader: converting attention and organisation into support from voters.
For now, however, the central fact is difficult to overlook.
Reform UK has received £72 million from two cryptocurrency billionaires in just 48 hours.
That does not settle Britain’s political future.
It does, however, represent a dramatic change in the resources available to Nigel Farage and his party.
The political battles surrounding Reform are far from over.
But if the past few days have demonstrated anything, it is that the party remains a formidable presence in Britain’s political conversation — and that Farage is not disappearing from the headlines any time soon.