Christopher Harborne registers to vote as UK tightens cap on overseas political donations

These financiers want to remodel the UK into a form that suits them – one that could threaten to erode the barriers between crime and businessThis coming Tuesday, the government’s representation of the people bill comes back to the House of Commons for its third reading. It bundles up a multitude of measures, including an extension of the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds and welcome changes to voter registration. But thanks to the continuing furore around Nigel Farage and his extremely wealthy friends – such as the Thailand-based crypto-investor Christopher Harborne, who gave Farage a £5m “lottery win” personal gift and has donated in excess of £22m to Reform UK – the aspects of the legislation that have suddenly become its headline measures are focused on big-money donations.The government has already implemented a moratorium – but only a moratorium – on political donations in cryptocurrencies, the encrypted digital assets that, to quote the Electoral Commission, “present particular challenges and risks in meeting electoral law requirements in identifying donors and ensuring they are permissible”. There is a new annual £100,000 limit on donations from British citizens living abroad. Other legislative moves will now take the form of amendments to the bill: they include new checks on whether companies making donations are above board by measuring their profit as well as their revenues, and a requirement for parliamentary candidates to declare any donation above £2,230 (although “personal gifts” will continue to be exempt).John Harris is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Mega-donors are coming under scrutiny after a crypto billionaire based in Thailand gave a £5m gift to Nigel FarageThe question of who funds politicians and political parties – and why they want to give money to get people elected – is an extremely heated one. In principle, UK voters can support their chosen politicians through donations or benefits, as long as those candidates and their parties keep within spending limits during an election period, which is designed to stop powerful interests from influencing the result.However, recent years have seen the rise of mega-donors giving vast sums to political parties, leading to calls for a new cap on the amount one individual or company can donate in a year. There has also been pressure for greater transparency around financial interests after the furore over Nigel Farage’s £5m gift from Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, shortly before the Reform UK leader became an MP. The rules state that gifts only have to be declared if they are political, and the Reform UK leader claims it was “personal” and freely given with no demands attached. Parliament’s standards commissioner is investigating the case. So: what are the rules on political donations and gifts? Continue reading...

Reform’s Nigel Farage had said he would ‘gladly’ accept more donations from Christopher Harborne (Photo by Martin Pope/Getty Images) A new set of rules on political donations could put a spanner in Reform UK’s plans to keep raking in millions from their crypto billionaire backer. Last week, it was revealed that Christopher Harborne – the man behind the single biggest donation by a living person in British political history, £9 million to Reform in August 2025 – had registered to vote in the UK. The move appeared to be an effort to bypass a new measure limiting donations from Brits based abroad to £100,000. Harborne has reportedly been based in Thailand for more than five years, holding Thai citizenship and using the name Chakrit Sakunkrit. Last week, Reform leader Nigel Farage said the party would ‘gladly’ accept more cash from Harborne if it was offered, adding: ‘We’re very pleased he has re-registered back in the UK.’ However, new ‘safeguards’ announced by the government today would mean anyone who moves to the UK from overseas also faces a cap of £100,000 for at least a year. Everything is changing, all the time Cut through political noise and understand how the Westminster chaos actually affects your life with Metro's politics newsletter Alright, Gov? Sign up here. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the change would stop people ‘being able to dodge the rules simply by registering to vote here’. It is one of a raft of new measures that have followed from an independent review into foreign financial interference in UK politics by the civil servant Philip Rycroft. They also include one requiring candidates to show that any money they received to fund a campaign before it officially kicked off came from a legitimate source. Christopher Harborne is one of the biggest donors in UK political history (Credits: George Cracknell Wright/LNP) Communities Secretary Steve Reed described the measures as ‘world-leading action’ which would ‘protect the integrity of our elections and tackle the threats we face from abroad’. He said: ‘These tough new rules will shut down dodgy funding, stop foreign money influencing our elections and keep our democracy strong.’ The changes will be included as amendments to the Representation of the People Bill which is set to return to the House of Commons next week. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has faced questions over a £5 million payment given to him by Harborne in the January before the 2024 general election. Farage has said the money was a ‘gift’ completely unrelated to his political activity – otherwise, he would have been required to formally declare it to the authorities following his election. The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is currently investigating whether any rules were broken when Farage – who was not leading Reform at the time he received the money – did not flag it. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page Yesterday, the Sunday Times reported the Reform leader had failed to declare benefits provided by his friend George Cottrell, a 32-year-old aristocrat once convicted of fraud. That accusation was strongly denied by the party’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick, who told Sky News: ‘There’s no story here.’ Previously, the government also announced a complete ban on donations made in cryptocurrency – a key recommendation from the Rycroft Review. Reform UK was the first major party in the UK to announce it would accept donations in cryptocurrency, in May 2024. No others have since done so. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source

Reform will accept more donations from crypto billionaire  The TelegraphThai-based crypto investor funding Reform unlikely to avoid cap on overseas donations  The GuardianNigel Farage’s £5m problem just won’t die  New StatesmanWe must learn the truth about Nigel Farage’s £5m donation  Prospect MagazineBillionaire Reform UK supporter registers to vote in Britain  The Times

Thai-based crypto investor funding Reform unlikely to avoid cap on overseas donations  The GuardianBillionaire behind £5m Farage gift registers to vote in Britain  The TelegraphWe must learn the truth about Nigel Farage’s £5m donation  Prospect MagazineBillionaire Reform UK supporter registers to vote in Britain  The TimesClacton could be up for grabs after investigation into Farage’s £5m ‘unconditional gift’  The Observer

Christopher Harborne, who also gave Nigel Farage £5m ‘gift’, reported to have registered to vote in HampshireChristopher Harborne, the Thailand-based crypto investor who has given millions of pounds to Reform UK, would be unlikely to get around a planned cap on overseas political donations even if he has registered to vote in the UK, it is understood.Harborne, who also gave Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, £5m as a “gift”, has registered to vote in Hampshire, the Times reported, with a spokesperson for the billionaire quoted in the paper saying that he had decided to become a “registered voter in the UK”. Continue reading...