Nigel farage's reform UK party lands second big donation from crypto investor

Nigel Farage's Reform UK party lands second big donation from crypto investor

Reform UK Party's Fundraising Success and Key Donors

By Andrew MacAskill

Major Donations Boost Reform UK’s Finances

LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - Nigel Farage's populist Reform UK party secured a second big donation from crypto investor Christopher Harborne, helping it raise more money than its rivals last year in a sign that business donors are responding to the party's polling lead.

Reform raised 5.5 million pounds ($7.4 million) in the fourth quarter of last year, helped by a 3-million-pound donation from Harborne, the Electoral Commission said on Thursday.

This came after Harborne gave the party 9 million pounds in the previous quarter, the biggest single donation to a British political party by a living donor.

Comparison with Other Political Parties

The donations mean Reform received more than 18 million pounds in cash donations last year, more than double the 8.1 million taken in by the governing Labour Party and the 13.4 million raised by the opposition Conservative Party.

The figures exclude the public funding given to parties.

Farage’s Strategy and Party Ambitions

Farage, a veteran Brexit campaigner and friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, is on a mission to professionalise the party before the next national election, due in 2029.

Current Political Standing

Although Reform UK only holds eight of the 650 seats in Britain's parliament, Farage's party has topped national opinion polls since early last year and hopes to triumph in another round of local elections in May, including votes for the devolved parliaments of Scotland and Wales.

Profile of Reform UK’s Donors

Christopher Harborne’s Contributions

Two thirds of Reform's funding last year came from Harborne, who has declared in legal filings he held a 12% stake in crypto exchange Bitfinex, which shares a parent company with Tether, the world's largest stablecoin issuer.

Other Significant Donors

Anthony Bamford

During the last quarter of last year, the longtime Conservative donor Anthony Bamford also made a 200,000-pound donation to Reform through his company J.C Bamford Excavators Ltd.

David Grainger and Gary Dutton

Reform also received 260,000 pounds from David Grainger, the co-founder of an investment firm focused on the life sciences sector, and 250,000 pounds from double glazing entrepreneur Gary Dutton.

($1 = 0.7488 pounds)

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; editing by Sarah Young and Andrew Heavens)