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Nigel Farage’s biggest backer asked an associate to donate £50,000 on his behalf so that it would appear that the Brexit party had a broader donor base, according to messages seen by the Financial Times.
Businessman Christopher Harborne told the associate in 2019 that he wanted to avoid the perception that Farage’s party, later renamed Reform UK, had just one big backer at the UK general election that year.
Harborne, an aviation entrepreneur and crypto investor, said in the messages: “I would like to ask whether I can gift you money to onward donate to the party.” He told the associate there were no legal or tax issues.
The money was ultimately not gifted and a donation was not made by the associate, according to people briefed on the matter.
Harborne donated over £10mn in his own name to the Brexit party in 2019 and 2020, making him the largest donor to the party in that period, according to Electoral Commission records.
He had agreed with Farage to cover the party’s 2019 election costs, the businessman said in the messages.
A spokesperson for Harborne said: “All of Mr Harborne’s political donations and disclosures concerning those donations, including throughout 2019, were made in full compliance with electoral laws.”
A Reform spokesperson said: “The Reform Party (formerly The Brexit Party) fully complies with electoral law and all donations were duly declared.”
The Electoral Commission said that in general it is an offence to make a donation on behalf of another person without providing the true donor’s details.
It said that both the donor and the intermediary can be found to have committed an offence if the true donor’s identity is concealed.
Gavin Millar KC told the FT that Harborne’s exchange with his associate suggested that the “true donor” was “intending to deceive” the party into registering the intermediary as a donor.
UK electoral law allows people to make donations on behalf of others as long as the true donor is disclosed.
Harborne, who was born in Britain but lives in Thailand, founded an aviation fuel company AML Global, and is an investor in crypto exchange Bitfinex and the stablecoin issuer Tether.
He is also the largest shareholder in British defence company Qinetiq, which has contracts with the UK government.
Harborne is known as Chakrit Sakunkrit in Thailand.
As well as backing Farage, Harborne has been a longtime donor to the UK Conservative party. He donated £1.8mn to the Tories between 2003 and 2022.
Harborne also gave £1mn to former Tory leader Boris Johnson after he stood down as prime minister. The donation, in November 2022, was made to The Office of Boris Johnson Ltd, Johnson’s private office.
The Brexit party gained considerable popularity through 2019, reaching a peak in June when about a quarter of the population said they would vote for the party, according to a YouGov survey at the time.
In the end Farage did not field candidates in 317 Tory-held seats to ensure then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn did not win the December 2019 poll. Where the Brexit party contested seats, they dented the Labour vote, helping keep Corbyn from power.
Reform did not repeat the move at the 2024 UK general election, contributing to the Tory party’s worst ever election defeat to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour.
Farage’s biggest donors this year were party chair Zia Yusuf, businesses owned by Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice, and financier Jeremy Hosking.
The Electoral Commission database does not record any donations by Harborne since 2022. But in July this year, Harborne paid for a private jet flight and accommodation for Farage and himself to visit then presidential candidate Donald Trump in the US following the assassination attempt on his life.
The trip was valued at £33,000, according to the parliamentary register of MPs’ interests.
If you have any information relating to this article, please contact anna.gross@ft.com
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