Crypto billionaire gives Reform UK 36 million pounds, UK record

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Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party cashed in a massive £36 million donation from crypto billionaire Ben Delo, giving the populist leader a massive financial head start in his bid to win the UK’s next general election.

It is the largest ever single donation ever given to a political party in the UK, dwarfing a £9 million gift to Reform UK in 2025 from Christopher Harborne, another crypto investor.

Delo, who was already one of Reform’s largest donors, said he wants to give Reform “a level playing field” at the next general election. The donation means Reform has raised five times more money than the Conservative party and six times more than Labour in 2026, the Telegraph notes .

Reform UK was leading the polls since April 2025 , according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls. But the party has now slumped slightly behind Labour, with new Prime Minister Andy Burnham at the helm and after a bizarre by-election where Farage defeated satirical candidate Count Binface.

Delo argued in an opinion piece for The Telegraph that Reform needed the injection to make the election “ a fair fight .”

The right-wing force is currently rushing to get battle-ready amid speculation Burnham could trigger an early general election, though one is not due until 2029. Reform UK is on the hunt for potential candidates to run as MP, and has only about 100 star candidates considered ready to run at the moment.

Both Reform as a party and Nigel Farage have faced scrutiny over recent years about donations and how they reported them. The party is currently under investigation from the Metropolitan Police over allegations it broke foreign funding laws .