New rules won't stop me donating, says billionaire Reform backer

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. New rules won't stop me donating, says billionaire Reform backer 24 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Joshua Nevett Political reporter George Cracknell Wright/LNP Christopher Harborne is a cryptocurrency investor and aviation entrepreneur The British billionaire behind a record donation to Reform UK has insisted Sir Keir Starmer's planned crackdown on political finance will not stop him from giving money to the party. Speaking to the Telegraph , Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based businessman, claimed he was "the reason" the government had announced a £100,000 cap on donations from British citizens living overseas. He told the newspaper he believed he could challenge the cap in court and has not ruled out returning to the UK to get around it.

A government spokesperson said the cap on donations was part of its "decisive action to protect the integrity of our democratic system from foreign interference". Housing Secretary Steve Reed denied the cap was designed to target Reform UK's donors, after announcing the move last month. "The reason we are capping donations from British nationals who are living and paying their taxes overseas is that we cannot track where their funding has come from in the same way as if they're in the UK," Reed told the .

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"So you could have situation where the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, hostile states, could be funnelling their money through those individuals to influence UK elections. " The Telegraph interview comes as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage faces questions about a £5m gift Harborne had given him before he became an MP. Harborne, who until now had kept a low profile, said he wanted to speak out to explain his motivation and his relationship with Farage.

Farage said he had been given the £5m gift to pay for personal protection "so that I would be safe and secure for the rest of my life". But Labour and the Conservatives have accused Farage of breaking parliamentary rules by not declaring the £5m gift in the register of interests for MPs - and the Tories have referred the Reform leader to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. Farage's team say there was no requirement to declare the money because it was a "personal unconditional gift that was given before he was elected".

Last year, Harborne donated £9m to Reform UK - the biggest single donation to a UK political party by a living person. The cryptocurrency investor and aviation entrepreneur gave £12m in total to Reform UK in 2025. Harborne has previously given large sums to the Conservatives under Boris Johnson's leadership, as well as Reform's predecessor the Brexit Party in 2019 and 2020.

In March, the government announced changes to "protect UK democracy from scourge of foreign actors and financial influence", including an annual £100,000 cap on donations from British citizens living abroad. At the time, Reform UK's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf accused Labour of "choking off legal funding for its main rival".

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.