That's a Bit Rich: 80% of Reform Cash Linked to Tax Havens

Rich people and companies linked to tax havens accounted for 80% of registered donations to Reform UK last year, Babelfish can reveal.

After scouring a year's worth of declarations to the Electoral Commission, we found 18 Reform donors with offshore links who gave the party almost £15million in 2025. This exceeds the total registered donations to the Conservative party and is more than was given to Labour and the Lib Dems combined.

Our investigation raises important questions about what it means for our democracy when a party which could soon sweep to power is dependent on so much money from a handful of wealthy people who are linked to offshore cash – where they typically benefit from lower taxes and greater secrecy.

Reform's biggest donor is Thai-resident and crypto investor Christopher Harborne, who gave the party £12m last year, including a record-breaking £9m single payment.

Little is known about his finances but it was recently revealed that Harborne also gave leader Nigel Farage a £5m "personal gift" before the last election. This was not declared when Farage was elected MP and he says it was given to provide him with lifetime security.

Harborne owns AML Global, a jet fuel business registered in the British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong, according to court documents. He also has a 12% stake in iFinex Inc, registered in the BVI, which owns crypto exchange Bitfinex and sister company Tether.

He is rarely interviewed, but told the Telegraph last month that he would find a way around government plans to cap political donations from Brits living abroad at £100,000.

Harborne said: "I think I'm the reason for that legislation. I don't believe the government has a right to stop me, and they won't. There is always a way, we just don't know what it's going to be yet."

The second largest donor to the party last year was its treasurer Nick Candy, a property tycoon whose empire includes companies in Luxembourg and Guernsey. He gave £990,000.

The next most generous donor was deputy leader Richard Tice, who gave £613,000 through his company Tisun Investments. Tice set up a family trust offshore in Jersey and also controlled a company in the Channel Islands tax haven called Gellymill Ltd.

Reform UK's fourth biggest backer was businessman Bassim Haidar, who announced he was quitting the UK over changes to the tax treatment of non-doms like himself. After considering Monaco, he relocated his family to Dubai in September 2024, telling MailOnline: "My biggest concern was tax on global assets and inheritance tax on global assets."

Mr Haidar began donating to Reform and by the end of 2025 had given £355,000. These four men, two living abroad and all four former Tory donors, gave nearly £14m to Reform last year. Based on recent donations, it would take the Green Party 25 years to register that amount. But we have found another 14 Reform donors with similar links to offshore, who gave between £25,000 and £200,000 last year.

They include a company owned by Tory mega-donors, JCB tycoons the Bamfords, who reportedly own their empire through Bermudan trusts. JC Bamford Excavators Ltd donated £200,000 to Reform last year.

Lady Rothermere was behind a £50,000 donation. Her husband, the 4th Viscount Rothermere, controls the Daily Mail group of newspapers through a company based in Jersey.

Other British-registered companies owned via Jersey, the Isle of Man and the British Virgin Islands have given Reform £300,000 last year. All this is no accident.

After his appointment as treasurer, Candy told the Financial Times he would actively be recruiting cash from offshore: "We'll do events in restaurants, people's private homes and on yachts.

"You have to be on the UK electoral register or the overseas electoral register or have a UK trading company.

"There are plenty of people in Monaco, Switzerland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey, who can meet both of those criteria."

The fifth largest donor to Reform UK we have not been able to identify. Oliver Evans gave them £340,000 but it is not possible to pin this money down to one individual.

In all, £733,000 came from 18 individuals who we have been unable to firmly identify. A Maria Rost gave £100,000 to Reform and a business owner of that name is linked via a UK company to the Cayman Islands. An Oscar Townsley gave £30,000 and a man of that name appears on Companies House as director of a company based in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Five Reform donors who gave the party £12,555,000 last year – 67% of the total – live, or appear to live, abroad, according to information given to Companies House. While the party distances itself from the disastrous last Conservative government, 78% of its funding last year came from 14 donors who have given, and even continue to give, to the Tory Party.

Tom Brake, CEO of Unlock Democracy, said: "No one should be allowed to buy influence by donating massive amounts of money to any party. When this happens, the voices of tens of millions of voters are excluded."

"The government could start by [capping] all donations at £100k, not just those from abroad. Secondly, the government should require parties to turn down money from tax havens or when the true source cannot be guaranteed, such as crypto assets."

"These donors have an agenda. It is about tax avoidance and maximising their wealth, which deprives public services like the NHS and schools."

Tim Pickton, Senior Advocacy Advisor at Spotlight on Corruption, said: "Offshore-linked donations to political parties are coming under growing scrutiny – and rightly so."

"Without stronger rules, there is a risk of the door being left open to UK companies and individuals acting as a front for foreign donors who want to remain in the shadows while trying to buy influence."

"This is exactly why we need the government to strengthen its requirements on political donors to declare that their donations to parties and candidates do come from them and them alone."

"To effectively safeguard our democracy against hidden influence, we also need to ensure that companies can only donate from profits they made in the UK over the previous two years". 

 Reform did not respond to a request for comment but has previously insisted that all donations follow the rules.

The Hypocrisy Gap

Nigel Farage once labelled "rich people" who evade taxes as a "common enemy". The then leader of UKIP denounced tax avoidance to the European Parliament.

Farage himself has faced scrutiny for using offshore trusts and funnelling over £700,000 in earnings from GB News into his own private company to reduce his tax. He set up a trust fund in the Isle of Man to cut inheritance tax bills. He insisted it was an "error" and he did not avoid tax.

He has been found to have breached the MPs' code of conduct by failing to declare £380,000 in interests on time. The watchdog accepted it was "inadvertent".