Up next in 10
Lewis Goodall reacts to Reform's record-breaking donations and explains how the 'Americanisation of British politics' is happening in real time.
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
How we in Britain once looked through a mirror smugly at American politics
0:04
How we saw the huge sums of money, hundreds of millions of dollars
0:08
flowing through the thickening veins and arteries of American democracy, and we thought, that couldn't happen here
0:15
Yes, American politics was bigger, it was glitzier, gaudier, such a show
0:19
It took our breath away. But it was a show we wanted to watch, not one we wanted to be in
0:25
British politics were smaller, boardier, end of the pier, a few warm white wines and a drafty town hall rather than a billion dollar jamboree beneath the chandeliers of Mar-a-Lago
0:37
But at least we told ourselves it couldn't simply be bought. Well, as someone almost said, we're not laughing now, are we
0:45
Westminster awoke on Saturday morning to the stunning news that Reform UK had secured another historic donation
0:53
following hard on the heels of the last historic donation 24 hours before
0:58
The amount? £36 million. Yes, you heard that correctly. £36 million. Ben D'Elo, the crypto billionaire and co-founder of Bitmex
1:09
had decided to give reform the largest single donation in British history
1:14
He said he wanted to ensure a fair fight and a level playing field
1:17
But no sooner had Westminster caught its breath than another story dropped
1:22
West Reform had secured another donation of another 36 million, all within 48 hours
1:32
Christopher Harbourn, or should I say Chakrit Sakunit, that's how British-born billionaire is known
1:38
is best known in Thailand where he lives, the owner of a luxury wellness retreat by day
1:42
crypto billionaire by night, who had already given millions to Reform and who gave Nigel Farage that
1:48
£5 million personal gift, which was not declared at the time, well, in a big billionaire energy
1:54
flourish, decided to match Mr D'Lo's donation, pound for pound. So that's £72 million in a
2:04
weekend. And I was pleased when I found a fiver on the floor. When Robert Jenrick told me last
2:08
week that Reform had an excellent fundraising team, well, he wasn't wrong about that. In just
2:13
two donations, reform has secured the equivalent of £2 million a month until the next general
2:19
election every month, assuming that this parliament runs to its maximum. And more money than every
2:25
major British political party spent nationally in the entire 2024 general election campaign
2:33
put together £72 million from two men. Now, Mr D'Lo and Mr Harbourn insist that they want
2:40
nothing in return for this extraordinary largesse. They say they're motivated only by a desire to see
2:46
Britain renewed, that they loathe what they've come to see as British national decline and regard
2:51
Nigel Farage and reform as the only vehicle capable of arresting it. They argue too, the reform is a
2:57
newish party, that it does not enjoy the deep roots, the property, the networks, the institutional
3:02
support which Labour and the Conservatives have accumulated over generations. This money, they say
3:09
merely levels the playing field. But it brings reformist fund raising into line
3:13
with the combined efforts of Labour and the Conservatives since 2021. Hmm, maybe
3:19
But it poses enormous questions about reform, about those donors, and about British politics itself
3:26
First, the party and the men. We must remember Mr D'Lo did not simply make his fortune in cryptocurrency
3:32
This is a man who pleaded guilty in the United States to violating the Bank Secrecy Act
3:37
after BitMEX failed to establish adequate anti-money laundering controls. He was subsequently pardoned by President Trump
3:45
Mr Harbourn is a major investor in the cryptocurrency He already donated millions to reform and gave Mr Farage personally the million gift as I say
3:56
that is now being examined by Parliament's standards watchdog. Mr. Farage says that he did nothing wrong
4:02
Reform denies wrongdoing in relation to the wider investigations into its finances
4:07
And to repeat, the men say they expect no favours in return, no peerage, no knighthood, no nothing
4:13
And they're entitled to say that. But we are equally entitled to ask questions. Is it right
4:20
that one political party, a self-described people's army, should become so dependent not
4:24
merely on billionaires, but on two billionaires who made their fortunes in the same particular
4:30
controversial and often opaque industry? And is it entirely irrelevant that one of the areas in
4:36
which reform has produced some of its most distinctive and developed proposals is, you
4:42
You guessed it, cryptocurrency, a Bitcoin reserve at the Bank of England, lower capital gains tax on crypto, friendly regulation for digital assets
4:52
Nigel Farage himself promoting the industry on this radio station. Crypto policy detailed
4:59
Meanwhile, the party has struggled to fill some of the most basic jobs expected of a government in waiting
5:06
Not least talking about getting around party donation rules in an undercover sting operation
5:11
operation, boasting that the relevant authorities are toothless and easy to circumvent. Now
5:17
perhaps these men really do want nothing in return. But the democratic problem is not solved
5:22
by saying, trust us. The whole purpose of a healthy political system is that the public
5:27
should not have to rely on the personal assurances of billionaires or politicians
5:32
because this is bigger than reform. We've seen big money politics before. Big business has often
5:38
discovered a new enthusiasm for Labour when Labour looks likely to win. Wealthy individuals
5:42
have bankrolled the Conservatives as a matter of course. Donors have found themselves in the House
5:48
of Lords with such frequency, the coincidence has become one of the great recurring jokes of British
5:53
public life. Labour remains heavily reliant for their part on the trade unions. One of this
5:59
government's defining pieces of legislation strengthened rights long sought by those same
6:04
unions. Now, those policies may be right, they may be wrong. The donors may be honourable or not
6:08
The causes may be good or not. But let's stop pretending that money and access live in entirely
6:15
separate universes. Anyone who tells you that money cannot and does not buy you access and
6:21
influence in British politics is either lying to you or has never attended a political fundraiser
6:28
Every major party operates donor programmes which grant wealthy supporters access to senior
6:34
figures and decision makers. Dinners, receptions, private briefings, a quiet word in the ear of the
6:40
leader, a chance to explain your concerns to the people writing the manifesto. We use the language
6:46
of philanthropy, but access is the product and influence is the thing that is being sold. Of
6:53
course, there is no receipt which reads five million, one government policy. Politics in Britain
6:58
is rarely so crude. Influence works through proximity, through familiarity, through whose
7:03
call gets returned, through whose concerns are heard, through whose ideas are regarded as sensible
7:10
before the meeting has even begun. It is the difference between you writing to your MP and
7:17
getting a pro-former letter in response and dining with a man who hopes to be prime minister
7:22
And now we're expected to believe that two people who give a political party 72 million at a minimum
7:28
enough to transform its organisation, hire hundreds of staff and alter the balance of power
7:32
potentially at the next election, without acquiring so much as a phone call an extra bit ounce of influence Give me a break This is how the Americanisation of British politics really happens Not with marching bands or balloons not with conventions primaries or attack adverts although we getting plenty of those
7:51
It happens when political parties become private vehicles financed by a tiny number of staggeringly wealthy people
7:58
It happens when equality at the ballot box is preceded by grotesque inequality in the contest to reach it
8:05
One person, one vote, but at least one billionaire with £36 million
8:11
Let's speak now to Peter Gagin, who is the editor of the investigative newsletter
8:15
Democracy for Sale, has long written about these sorts of issues, and indeed, incidentally enough, was banned from the Reform Conference last week
8:24
Peter, thanks so much for joining us. How different do you think this is, or is it actually a continuation
8:28
of one of the central themes of British politics? I think it can be both
8:32
I think we have a politics that's running more and more on private money. there's more money in British politics than it's ever been before
8:37
Every election over the last few years has seen a ratcheting up of the amount of money
8:42
But this is a huge step change. Just to put it into context, the actual spending limit during a general election campaign is £34 million
8:50
These are two donations of over £36 million. They're by far and away the biggest donations in recorded political history in the United Kingdom
8:59
What we see, we just published a story yesterday on Democracy for Sale that showed it, over 80% of all the money reform have ever got has now come from two cryptocurrency billionaires
9:08
Ben Dello and Christopher Harbourn. And this is really, I think, American style of funding
9:13
in the UK. This has always been a possibility. It's always been something that's happened
9:17
You've reported on it too, Lewis, how money buys access in Britain. But the amount of money has
9:21
often been less for a lot of access. But what we're seeing here is an amount of money that not
9:26
only buys access and influence, but can actually, in many effects, buy a general election because
9:32
it's a step change. It's a huge, huge amount of money. It kind of dwarfs anything we've seen before
9:38
Does it necessarily... Is it the case, though, Peter, that actually the money can buy a general election
9:43
I mean, in the sense that, first of all, we do have spending limits for both a short and a long campaign
9:47
So actually, even if they wanted to spend all of this money within a general election, it wouldn't be possible
9:51
Although, of course, there are always potentially ways around these things. But also, we have seen before, haven't we
9:57
very well-funded political entities. I suppose the most notable example would be
10:01
the referendum party with Jimmy Goldsmith. It was bankrolled with his private fortune
10:06
At the ballot box, you could argue that ultimately it set in place a sort of chain of events which led to Brexit over many years
10:11
But ultimately, the ballot box for the elections in which you contested didn't do terribly well
10:15
Does money always buy you success at the ballot box in this country? It doesn't always buy you success
10:20
And there's been quite a bit of academic research on this. But it does tend to help you if you're a party on the up
10:26
And reform is a party on the up. I know it's had its blips, etc., etc. but it's a party that's it's the second biggest party in britain so i agree if you look at the
10:33
reclaim party lawrence fox's party jeremy hoskin the big brexit donor has spent millions on reclaim
10:38
and they barely struggle to even keep a deposit reform is in a different position it's a party
10:42
that does have already a lot of supporters they might have banned me from their conference but
10:46
there's about 12 000 people there they're talking about hiring hundreds of campaign staff that will
10:51
and probably will have a material difference in the ability for reform to go and get its vote out
10:55
to get its message out. So there's a reason why people put money into politics. But it's not just that
11:00
I think this is going to have a step change in terms of even the conversations we're having about reform
11:05
This time last week, we would have been talking about the Channel 4 thing and reforms money. There's actually four separate police investigations
11:11
now open to reforms finances. But you and I, and rightly so, are talking about this huge amount of money
11:17
And this is also the ability of money to change the political conversation
11:21
This is a really important part of what money does. Money is able to buy not just television
11:25
not just media column inches It able by its very force to change the kind of conversations we have about politics Let be honest though Peter I mean it true I know you weren able to go to a reform conference last week
11:38
I went. You can see where the money is going. I mean, this is the most professional new party that I've ever seen
11:44
I mean, I remember having gone in years ago to, I'm sure you probably did as well, to sort of the old UKIT conferences and so on
11:50
And they were exactly as people might imagine, you know, proper end of the pier stuff, sort of half colonels sort of striding around, sort of grumbling to themselves
11:58
You know, the aesthetic of it basically kind of sort of dad's army meets political party
12:03
This is something completely different. You can see where the money is going. But isn't it also the case that reform may well turn around this morning and say every other political party, conservatives and Labour, if they were offered this money, they would take it
12:15
And let's be honest, they probably would, wouldn't they? They probably wouldn't. This is the problem with this country
12:20
This is a problem with how our political system is run. We have a political system that runs on private capital and private money and private donations
12:27
There's a kind of slightly terrifying stat from Transparency International. In 2023, two thirds of all political donations in the United Kingdom came from just 19 very rich people
12:39
So we already have a very concentrated pool of political donations in this country
12:44
All the major donors in this country could fit in a room almost
12:48
and reform are basically taking that and supercharging it but one thing i think that's
12:51
really crucial as well as there's no reason that this could be the end of the money if that makes sense you know in some ways our politics has always been wide open for american style big money
13:00
it just hasn't really happened because you didn't to get the kind of influence you didn't need to do
13:03
it you just spent 50 grand and you've got a seat at the table what i think carbon and delo are
13:08
showing is that actually you can go much further and i would you know i would be surprised if this
13:12
is unless something changes in terms of legislation i would be surprised if this is the only money we
13:17
see like this. This could easily be the start, not the end. Well, I thought one of the, Peter
13:21
you mentioned the Channel 4 sting. I thought one of the things that actually was most interesting
13:26
and most disturbing, actually, although perhaps not too surprising for anyone who is familiar
13:31
with it, but it didn't get that much attention. But it was the part of the undercover sting
13:36
I think it was James Orr, where he was talking about the Electoral Commission. And he was basically saying, this is an organisation which is very easy to get around
13:44
We're not talking about the serious fraud office here. We're basically talking about a pretty truthless organisation
13:49
Now, Mr. Orr continues to deny wrongdoing. But the fact that he said that
13:54
in this undercover operation, I thought was very revealing about the apparatus
13:59
which governs our democracy. Because let's not forget the Electoral Commission is supposed to basically be
14:04
the primary custodian of our elections and making sure that the funding
14:09
and how those elections actually go about are all adhering to the rules
14:15
well if you look at until recently the maximum political uh fine for breaking electoral law in
14:22
the uk was 20 000 pounds you know i wrote my last book i talked to people across the political
14:27
spectrum and for them like kind of getting falling foul of electoral law was kind of the cost of
14:31
doing business you know we have it's a it's a complicated system we've got the worst of all
14:36
worlds we've very complicated electoral rules but often it's very very easy to get around them and
14:40
there's very little enforcement of those rules and but frankly the rules themselves you know the
14:45
Electoral Commission is no longer fully independent, has independence taken off of. But there's a much bigger question here
14:50
which is about what kind of rules do we need to actually protect democracy? At the moment, as you say
14:53
we've no cap on our political spending. And while that's the case
14:57
parties will just keep going because also by the time you were brought to book
15:02
for something you might have done, you're talking years into the future. That was the story with Vote Leave
15:05
Vote Leave were filed into broken electoral law. That happened three, you know, years after the fact
15:10
So there's a kind of move fast and break things, which I think for someone like Reform, I think there's a sense of
15:14
So let's just keep going with this. Because by the time someone might enforce this
15:18
we might be in power and we might not really care about what they say
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