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Nigel Farage’s hopes of winning the next election have received a major boost with a record donation from aviation entrepreneur Christopher Harborne
David MaddoxPolitical EditorThursday 04 December 2025 10:05 GMTComments
open image in galleryNigel Farage (Stefan Rousseau/PA (PA Wire)
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Nigel Farage’s push to get to Downing Street has received a huge boost after the latest figures on donations reveal that aviation entrepreneur Christopher Harborne gave Reform UK £9 million.
The former Tory donor made his money as an aviation entrepreneur and crypto investor and was born in Britain but now lives in Thailand.
Previously, he gave sizeable donations to the Brexit Party - Reform UK’s predecessor - in 2019 and 2020, but had not donated to politics for five years.
open image in galleryChristopher Harborne gave £9m to Reform (Christopher Harborne)Reform UK topped the donations with a total of £10.3 million for the third quarter of the year, while the Tories received in £4.5 million with Labour on just £1.9 million, according to Electoral Commission data released on Thursday.
It comes as the late More in Common polling puts Reform a long way ahead on 30 per cent with the Tories and Labour both on 21 per cent.
Reform was also helped with a £500,000 donation from property developer Nick Candy, who was a high profile defector from the Tories last year.
Another £100,000 from William Alan McIntosh, the founder of Emerald Investment Partners, an investment company.
open image in galleryMr Farage’s hopes to win the general election have been fuelled by the massive donation (Stefan Rousseau/PA (PA Wire)It is believed that the £9 million given to Reform UK on 1 August this year is the largest political donation on record from a living person, and second only to who Lord Sainsbury left £10 million to the Conservatives in his will in 2023 after his death.
The lack of big donations had previously been one of the biggest question marks over whether Mr Farage and Reform UK could translate support in the polls with success at general elections.
It provides money for them to develop their policies as well as invest in their campaign machine both on the ground and through national advertising.
In the previous round of donations Reform had struggled coming in third behind the Tories and Labour.
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