Up next in 10
James Hanson reacts as Reform UK receives two record-breaking donations in the space of two days.
Crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne matched the record £36 million donation to Reform UK made by British billionaire Ben Delo.
Thai-based businessman Christopher Harborne, the party's biggest donor, said on Saturday he was matching the donation by Ben Delo, revealed on Friday.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Harborne said the donation was "a philanthropic gift to our country" intended to help Reform prepare for government.
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0:00
For the second time in two days, Reform UK has received a record-breaking £36 million donation
0:09
from a crypto billionaire. Now, the first of these is from a Hong Kong-based businessman called Ben
0:16
D'Lo, who said he was giving the money because he wanted a fair fight and a level playing field
0:23
Nigel Farage said he was honoured and humbled by the gift. D'Lo currently lives in Hong Kong
0:28
but says he's planning to move back to the UK in order to make the donation
0:32
because Labour is proposing a new £100,000 a year cap on gifts from overseas donors
0:38
But it's also worth digging into who D'Lo is. Because he was convicted in the US in 2022
0:46
for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls in his trillion-dollar cryptocurrency business BitMEX
0:55
He was later pardoned by Donald Trump. So is it a good look for Reform UK to be accepting Britain's biggest ever political donation
1:08
from a man convicted of failing to follow anti-money laundering rules in the US
1:14
Just posing that question. Especially in the week in which the Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation
1:20
into whether the party broke foreign donation rules following undercover reporting broadcast by Channel 4
1:27
which appeared to show two senior aides to Nigel Farage suggesting ways to flout electoral law
1:34
Meanwhile, the Met is also investigating donations given by Fiona Cottrell, the mother of Farage's longstanding ally, George Cottrell
1:42
But if you think the Ben D'Lo donation is eyebrow-raising, there is more
1:47
because we now learn that Christopher Harbourn, another cryptocurrency billionaire, this time based in Thailand
1:55
has also given Reform a donation of £36 million, saying his competitive spirit had urged him to match the sum given by Ben D'Lo
2:06
Writing in The Telegraph, Harbourn said he expected nothing personally in return
2:10
aside from a party that is ready for government. Now, if Christopher Harbourn's name sounds familiar to you
2:17
It is because that is the bloke who personally gifted Nigel Farage five million pounds back in 2024
2:23
which the reform leader is now facing a parliamentary investigation over for failing to declare it in line with the MP's code of conduct
2:33
So this is what I want to explore with you this hour. When reform claim as they do that ordinary voters don care about their finances are they right Do you care Is this just a uniparty establishment smear as they so often like to claim
2:51
Is this rank hypocrisy on the part of the Labour Party and the Conservatives
2:56
who for years have been receiving millions of pounds in donations from, in Labour's case
3:01
the trade unions and some businessmen, and a lot of businessmen in the case of the Conservative Party
3:05
is is this rank hypocrisy or do you actually care do you think something smells off does this pass
3:15
the sniff test as far as we are aware and of course it will be down to the electoral commission
3:20
to investigate if they think there is anything off about these donations but there is nothing
3:25
at this stage to imply there is anything off about these donations as far as we're aware they
3:29
are 100 legal but there is a difference is there not between donations that are legal
3:35
and donations which pass the sniff test. 0345 6060 973 is the number
3:46
Send me a message on WhatsApp on the same number or you can text me 84850
3:51
Look, I understand the argument that reforms defenders put that there is a bit of hypocrisy here
3:58
because for many years both Labour and the Conservatives and indeed the Liberal Democrats
4:02
have received a lot of money from wealthy donors. So why should reform be excluded from doing so
4:07
Just because this is a particularly big donation or two particularly big donations
4:11
why should everyone else be kicking off? Well, isn't it partly because of who is giving the money and the size of the donations
4:19
And the age-old question is, why do people give money to political parties
4:25
Is there, if not an explicit quid pro quo, at the very least an implicit quid pro quo
4:32
an expectation that something might be given in return. And Nigel Farage has come out in the last 24 hours and said
4:40
look, Ben D'Elo, Christopher Harbourn are not going to be put in the House of Lords
4:44
They're not going to receive a knighthood. They will be getting no benefit from their donations
4:49
But given they are both cryptocurrency billionaires, I wonder if they might receive another kind of benefit from these donations
4:57
Because let's just look at reform's track record on the issue of cryptocurrency
5:01
which is a funny issue for reform to be so fixated on
5:05
Because I don't know about you, but Nigel Farage's constituents in Clacton-on-Sea
5:10
are they motivated by crypto when they get out of bed in the morning? Do they care more about crypto than, I don't know, small boats or benefits or the NHS
5:18
Somehow I doubt it But reform just happens at the same time as receiving million in 48 hours from crypto billionaires to be campaigning for very very pro policies They have a more
5:31
pro-crypto platform than any other party. They're advocating for tax cuts and deregulation. They
5:38
proposed last year a draft crypto asset bill that would benefit the likes of Christopher Harbourn
5:44
and Ben D'Lo. Senior reform figures, including Richard Tice, reportedly met with the governor
5:51
of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, last year to lobby him over crypto policy, including urging
5:57
him not to create a central digital currency, which would be damaging to the likes of Harbourn
6:03
and D'Lo. Nigel Farage personally has invested £215,000 into a Bitcoin business called Stack
6:14
which was co-founded by the former Conservative Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and which Farage now owns 6.3% of through his investment vehicle Thorn in the Side Limited
6:25
And Stack is owned by a man called Paul Withers, who also owns a gold-dealing business called Direct Bullion
6:31
of which Farage is a brand ambassador. So given that, could reform's sudden enthusiasm for cryptocurrency
6:40
have anything to do with the money they receive from crypto billionaires
6:45
and Farage's own crypto assets. 0345 6060 973
6:56
How much do you care about this? When reforms say ordinary voters don't care about their finances
7:02
are they right or do you care? And at the very least, do you not think this looks a bit off
7:10
Do you not think the size of the donations, given in such short order, we heard about the Ben D'Lo donation on Friday night
7:19
And the way that has come to light is a bit curious as well, because the Sunday Times, who have been doing a lot of reporting into reforms finances, were getting ready to splash the story this morning
7:29
Reform caught wind of this when they were approached for comment on Friday. So what did they do? They rang up the Daily Telegraph and said, would you like to break this story instead
7:36
They tried to get ahead of it. And then, yesterday, when we were just coming to terms with the size of Ben Dilo's donation, we learned that Christopher Harbourn has matched it
7:48
Do you care if your politicians are being bankrolled by foreign-based crypto billionaires
7:58
03456060973. And I do suspect that reform are making a big strategic error here They have calculated that a bit like Donald Trump in the US
8:10
most voters will just turn a blind eye, look the other way and go, well, they're all the same, all politicians are on the take
8:15
all politicians have a lot of money and are kind of bankrolled by rich donors, who cares
8:21
But Britain is not America. I don't think we do want our politics awash with money
8:26
You know, when Nigel Farah said a couple of years ago there's no money in politics unless you're bent
8:32
I think that phrase might come back to haunt him because there's no money in politics
8:38
Well, hang on. An MP's salary now is almost £100,000 a year
8:43
Nigel Farage may not consider that a lot of money. The vast majority of people in this country
8:47
consider that a huge amount of money and will never earn as much. So I think reform needs to be very careful here
8:54
and I think reform needs to be mindful of the fact that the perception that they are in the pocket of shady businessmen
9:04
might be getting locked in in the eyes of many voters. And the perception is all important in politics
9:12
And there's also the charge of hypocrisy that can be levelled at reform, because Nigel Farage, at a reform conference in 2024
9:20
was joking on stage about the donation of a pair of spectacles to Keir Starmer by the Labour donor, Lord Ali
9:25
And look, I was outraged by that, not specifically the spectacles, but the fact, of course, that Lord Ali, Labour donor, gave a series
9:31
of free gifts to Starmer and other senior Labour ministers and appeared to, in return, receive
9:36
Downing Street security clearance. It was wrong. And Farage was right to criticise him for it
9:42
But let's be honest. There is a whopping great big difference between a pair of spectacles
9:47
and £36 million, or a £5 million personal gift from Christopher Harbourn, £72 million in the
9:55
space of 24 hours from two different cryptocurrency billionaires, one of whom was convicted in the US
10:02
and had to be pardoned by Donald Trump. The optics are not great here. Why does reform continue to
10:08
accept money from Christopher Harbourn when Nigel Farage is already in trouble for the personal gift
10:13
he received from him? Is that not at the very least unwise? Why does reform accept money from a man
10:18
who has been convicted of breaking money laundering rules in the US? Is that not at the very least
10:23
unwise? And why does Nigel Farage continue to associate with convicted criminal George Cottrell
10:28
a man who reportedly calls him Daddy? And why did both Farage and Richard Tice attend the launch
10:35
of Cottrell's book earlier this year, a book that is quite literally called How to Launder Money
10:42
How much do you care about the stories around reforms financing
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