Reform UK receives second £36million donation in two days from crypto billionaires

Reform UK has been given a second £36 million donation in as many days.

Christopher Harborne, Reform's biggest donor, has matched the record £36million donated by cryptocurrency tycoon Ben Delo.

Mr Harborne, whose £5 million personal gift to Nigel Farage to pay for his security is the subject of a parliamentary investigation, told The Telegraph that Reform "needs more money than can be provided by membership fees alone" to create the sort of infrastructure older parties have built over more than a century.

It comes the day after Mr Delo, who was convicted in the US of failing to establish an adequate anti-money laundering program, provided his own £36 million donation to ensure a "fair fight and a level playing field" against the entrenched advantages of the Labour and Conservative parties.

Before Friday, the largest single donation to a political party had been a £10 million bequest left to the Conservatives, while the biggest donation from a living person was £9 million given by Mr Harborne to Reform last year.

Earlier this year Labour imposed a cap of £100,000 on donations to political parties from expatriate donors.

The government has also proposed further restrictions on donations in its Representation of the People Bill, with some MPs calling on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to impose caps on UK-based individual donors to match the cap on foreign donors.