From Dailymail · · 4m
A £36m bet on Farage, paid in one lump
A crypto billionaire just handed Reform UK the biggest political donation in British history, and the timing is the whole story.
In brief
A crypto billionaire just handed Reform UK the biggest political donation in British history, and the timing is the whole story. The size and the timing are the point: one lump sum, delivered before new rules on party funding can close the door. Originally reported by Dailymail.
A record broken
Ben Delo has given Reform UK £36million, the largest political donation in British history. The previous record was £10million, left to the Conservatives in a will.
Who Ben Delo is
Delo co-founded the crypto trading platform BitMEX in 2014 and made his first billion within four years. He recently moved back to the UK from Hong Kong.
His stated reason
He says he wants Farage's party to have a fair fight at the next general election, rather than spending its time chasing money.
“I want a fair fight and a level playing field”
Stop fundraising, start governing
Delo says Reform should spend less time raising funds and more time preparing to run the country. The gift is framed as buying them that room.
He was already the number two
Before this, Delo had given Reform £8m, second only to fellow crypto figure Christopher Harborne's £9m. This single gift dwarfs both.
A difficult summer
The new money follows a bruising few months for Reform, and Delo points to that stretch as the reason he moved now rather than later.
Scotland Yard is investigating
Reform is under Met Police investigation over separate claims it breached donation law. The party denies any wrongdoing.
The Channel 4 sting
An undercover investigation broadcast last week alleged two senior figures in Farage's team had looked for ways around the rules on foreign donations.
The Harborne £5m question
A £5m gift to Farage personally from Thailand-based Christopher Harborne is now the subject of a parliamentary sleaze inquiry.
Two stories, one gift
Farage first said the £5m would pay for his security for life, then later described it as a reward for his years of Brexit campaigning.
The Clacton gambit
Farage called a by-election in Clacton to draw a line under the scrutiny. He held the seat, and the investigation simply restarted.
Count Binface as opposition
Every other major party refused to contest Clacton, which left the comedy candidate Count Binface as Farage's main challenger.
A war chest nobody can match
With this gift, Reform has raised five times as much as the Conservatives and six times as much as Labour this year alone.
A pardon in the file
Delo pleaded guilty in the US in 2022 to failing to run an anti-money laundering programme. President Trump pardoned him last year.
Monthly, then all at once
He had pledged £1million a month until the latest possible election date in 2029. He chose to hand it over in one payment instead.
Why the lump sum
Paying it all now is designed to put the money beyond the reach of any government attempt to block future instalments.
The £100,000 cap
Labour has capped donations from overseas donors at £100,000, a change that helped push Delo to move back to the UK.
Election rigging, he says
Delo attacks Labour's Representation of the People Bill, arguing it leaves the party's own millions from trade unions untouched.
“an attempt at election rigging”
What the money buys
Reform plans to hire what a senior source calls the best brains for its policy unit and to expand its number of campaign managers.
“This is about preparing for government”
Bracing for an early poll
The spending push rests on a conviction inside Reform that Prime Minister Andy Burnham will call an election ahead of schedule.
What matters most
The size and the timing are the point: one lump sum, delivered before new rules on party funding can close the door.
