From the Guardian · · 2m
Honest Bob defends Reform's £72m
Two crypto billionaires hand Reform £72m, and the party sends out the man who once saved a donor £45m in tax to explain why that's fine.
In brief
Two crypto billionaires hand Reform £72m, and the party sends out the man who once saved a donor £45m in tax to explain why that's fine. Reform spent years attacking big-money politics as rigged, right up until the big money arrived in its own account. Originally reported by the Guardian.
Two donations, £36m each
Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo handed Reform £72m between them. Nigel Farage no longer has to fund his own security, or count the £500k lunch donations from overseas.
“You wait years for one party donation of £36m and then two come along at once.”
The outrage is selective
Had Labour or the Tories taken £72m from two billionaires, Reform would have called the system rigged and the main parties hotwired cash machines. The money landed with them instead, so everyone is relaxed.
“Who wouldn't want a country where two billionaires can attempt to buy the democratic process?”
Who they sent out
Reform put Robert Jenrick on the Laura Kuenssberg show to talk about the party's incorruptibility. As a junior minister he unlawfully overruled the planning inspector.
The Desmond discount
That overruling saved Tory donor and pornographer Richard Desmond close to £45m in tax. The Tories got about £12k back. Even as a transaction, it was badly priced.
“You'd have hoped the lesson Honest Bob had learned from that was not to sell his soul so cheaply.”
At least two investigations
Reform faces police investigations into alleged financial wrongdoing, hard enough to count that the number keeps slipping. Jenrick's answer was that everything was above board.
“Everything was totally above board.”
No refunds
Kuenssberg asked whether Reform might have to return money if the Rycroft review into party funding were applied retrospectively. Jenrick said not a penny goes back.
“Finders keepers. Possession nine-tenths of the law.”
Murk as transparency
The spin was that £72m from two crypto fortunes proves confidence and openness, not opacity. Jenrick's benchmark: unlike Tory donors buying peerages for under £100k, these two asked for no honours.
“Far from being an indication that the party's funding had become exponentially more murky, this was proof that it was being totally transparent.”
Just two regular patriots
Delo was convicted in the US over anti-money-laundering failures, then pardoned by Trump. Harborne lives in Thailand, Delo has been based in Hong Kong. Jenrick called them philanthropists.
“They are both just patriots.”
Unions, but crypto
Jenrick likened £72m from two crypto empires to thousands of workers paying union subs to Labour. What the pair really want is a £15k income tax threshold, worth about £500 each.
Only the start
The money funds professionalisation: billboards, bus sites, friendly TV. GB News already does it free, so the target moves to the BBC. Welfare, what's left, paid in crypto.
“Make no mistake. This £72m was only the start.”
What matters most
Reform spent years attacking big-money politics as rigged, right up until the big money arrived in its own account.
