Billionaire crypto investor and Reform donor registers to vote in the UK
Christopher Harborne is now eligible to vote as a UK resident and donate as much money as he wants to Reform
Reform UK’s largest donor, the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, has registered to vote in the UK, enabling him to get around the cap on donations from foreign actors.
As reported by The Times, Harborne, who has donated £15 million to Reform since 2025 and gave Nigel Farage £5 million in 2024, has updated his registered address on the Electoral Register to a farm in Berkshire.
This means Harborne is now eligible to vote in the UK, and that the £100,000 a year donation cap on foreign donors will not apply to him.
Labour introduced the cap on donations from British citizens living abroad in March to try and prevent foreign actors from having excessive influence over UK politics.
Harborne previously said that the government has no right to stop him from making donations and insisted that “where there’s a will, there’s a way”.
He also said that his first thought on hearing about the cap on donations was: “Fine, in that case I’ll give even more money.”
LFF understands that while Harborne is now registered to vote at a UK address, he could still spend time living abroad in Thailand.
Farage is currently being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner for failing to declare the £5 million gift from Harborne, which he received just weeks before becoming an MP.
The House of Commons Code of Conduct requires MPs to declare any ‘personal benefit’ they received in the 12 months before taking office – unless these gifts could not reasonably be thought to relate to their political activities.
Farage previously claimed that the gift was to pay for him to have a personal security team for the rest of his life.
He later said that Harborne gave him the money as a reward for campaigning for Brexit.
Last week, he said “it’s not the public’s business” to know details of how he spends Harborne’s gift and that “no one cares” about the parliamentary investigation.
Image credit: Christopher Harborne/ LinkedIn
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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