£72 million from two donors to Reform: the cap that is not law yet

Two men have handed Reform UK £36 million each within 48 hours, taking the party's haul from the pair to £72 million. They are the two largest single donations ever made to a British political party, and they landed just 24 hours apart. Campaigners have called it a dark day for British democracy.

The first came from Ben Delo, a British billionaire who made his money in cryptocurrency. According to the source reporting, he moved back to the UK from Hong Kong in order to sit outside a proposed cap on donations from overseas voters, and last year he was given an unconditional pardon by US President Donald Trump following a conviction for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act. The second came a day later from Christopher Harborne, a businessman based in Thailand, who said his competitive spirit pushed him to match the figure.

The blunt answer to how this is allowed is that there is no ceiling. There are currently no restrictions on the amount of money a UK-based donor can give to a political party. MPs backed changes last week that would cap overseas donations at £100,000 and suspend funding through cryptocurrency, but that draft legislation still has to clear the House of Lords before it becomes law. Until it does, the door stays open.

For scale, Fair Vote UK says the combined £72 million is more than every major party spent in total at the 2024 general election. Best for Britain put it another way, saying the sums are more than seven times the largest amount ever given to a political party in British history.

Kyle Taylor, executive director of Fair Vote UK, said the money buys an enormous political megaphone, covering campaign staff, advertising, polling, social media, leaflets and campaigning across the country. He added that an ordinary voter giving £10 or £20 simply cannot compete with that, and warned the country is watching a political money arms race accelerate in real time.

The donations arrive while Reform is already under scrutiny. Scotland Yard confirmed this week that it is investigating separate allegations the party broke foreign funding laws, and two senior aides, including Nigel Farage's former chief of staff Dan Jukes, were ousted over the incident. Mr Farage also faces questions over his failure to declare a £5 million gift from Mr Harborne.

Labour chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said Mr Farage cannot buy his way out of the scandal the party is drowning in, or out of the ongoing police investigations into its finances, and called on Reform to come clean with the public. Olly Buston of Clean Up Westminster said the issue is not really about Reform at all, arguing that no two individuals should be able to wield that much power whichever party they back.

Attention now turns to the Prime Minister, who has been urged to bring in a donation cap. Best for Britain's Cary Mitchell called for Andy Burnham to review political funding regulations immediately. The PM had supported a cap before, then rowed back after a backlash from trade unions, so the next move is a political choice rather than a legal obstacle.

For anyone watching the household bills go up, the practical point is simple. Policy on energy costs, tax and benefits is shaped by whoever can afford to be heard, and two bank accounts have just outspent an entire general election. The rules that would limit that exist on paper and are sitting in the Lords. Whether they pass, and how quickly, decides whether the next campaign you see is funded by millions of small donors or a handful of very large ones.