Category Archives: Party funding

How a £2m bitcoin order made Nigel Farage the political face of UK crypto

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Promotion of ‘bitcoin treasury’ firm with Kwasi Kwarteng draws new attention to Reform leader’s relations with industry

A thumping electronic beat provides the soundtrack to the video as Nigel Farage appears in front of a bank of screens.

At first glance, it could be yet another of the Reform UK leader’s “second jobs” – whether promoting gold as a pension fallback or recording Cameo videos. And in a sense, it is: Farage is promoting a £2m cryptocurrency purchase by a company in which he has £215,000 invested, Stack BTC.

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British crypto billionaire Ben Delo says he has given £4m to Reform UK

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Delo, pardoned by Trump after violating US banking law, describes himself as champion of free speech

A British billionaire convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business has given £4m to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Ben Delo, 42, who is now based in Hong Kong, wrote in the Telegraph that he had made the donation since the start of the year, before the government’s cap on donations to political parties by British citizens living abroad.

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Overseas political funding capped and crypto donations blocked in blow to Reform UK

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Legislation subject to MPs’ approval but will be backdated due to urgency of threat to UK democracy, says minister

Keir Starmer is set to embark on a fundamental overhaul of the political finance system, starting with an emergency ban on cryptocurrency donations and £100,000 cap on donations from Britons living abroad in a blow to Reform UK.

In a hugely significant move, the government said it would bring in the annual cap as well as a moratorium on crypto donations from Wednesday as part of its new elections legislation.

Requiring third-party campaigners to declare donations all year round, not just election periods, and allowing funding only from permissible donors.

More stringent checks on the source of funds from political donors, bringing it more into line with know-your-customer checks in the financial services industry.

Preventing donations from shell companies by ensuring funding is from post-tax profits rather than revenue.

Requiring foreign consultant lobbyists to join the official register, from which they are currently exempt because they do not charge VAT.

Banning foreign-funded political adverts outright.

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Labour’s donations crackdown is a blow to Reform UK – and a highly political move

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Reform’s ability to fundraise is hobbled in a move that draws attention to donations from an overseas billionaire

Reform UK are no doubt the biggest losers from the government’s emergency measures to overhaul political donations.

Labour MPs are absolutely delighted that No 10 is at last bringing in changes that will hobble Reform’s ability to raise money from its Thailand-based mega-donor, Christopher Harborne, at the same time as making the electoral system fairer in the eyes of the public.

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Funding for populist-right ‘media-political complex’ exceeded £170m in five years, research finds

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Handful of billionaires gave huge sums in particular to media organisations that boosted rightwing politicians, says Liam Byrne MP

More than £170m was given to MPs, political parties, media organisations and thinktanks aligned with the UK’s populist right over the past five years, new research from the Labour MP Liam Byrne has found.

Byrne, a former cabinet minister who chairs parliament’s business committee, said he had identified a “media-political complex” funded largely by a handful of billionaires.

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Ban corporate donations to UK political parties to protect elections, says thinktank

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CenTax warns bill under debate in parliament has ‘easily exploitable’ loopholes and will not prevent foreign interference

Political donations by companies should be banned to protect UK elections from foreign interference, a thinktank has warned.

In the first big overhaul of election funding in 26 years, ministers have pledged to “keep British democracy safe” by closing a loophole that allows individuals not eligible to vote in Britain to donate to political parties through UK-registered companies.

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Your Party receives ‘small portion’ of withheld supporters’ donations

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Row continues between camps of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, whose company holds hundreds of thousands of pounds of party funds

The leftwing Your Party, set up by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, is embroiled in another public row over donations to the party.

A statement from Corbyn along with Shockat Adam MP, Adnan Hussain MP, Ayoub Khan MP and Iqbal Mohamed MP states that hundreds of thousands of pounds were donated to the party “by supporters in good faith, but have since remained beyond its reach”, which they describe as being “extremely frustrating and disheartening”.

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Lucy Powell urged ministers to rethink legal action against Labour donor’s firm

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Exclusive: Intervention by deputy leadership contender could have saved company based in her Manchester constituency millions

Lucy Powell urged ministers to reconsider costly legal proceedings against a property development firm in her constituency founded by a Labour donor, in a move that could have saved his company millions, the Guardian can disclose.

Powell, who is the favourite to be elected Labour’s deputy leader this week, wrote to Angela Rayner on behalf of Urban Splash, a property developer in Manchester founded by party donor Tom Bloxham.

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Nadine Dorries defects to Reform, saying Conservative party ‘is dead’

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Former cabinet minister’s move on eve of Reform conference is further boost for party that took almost £1m in donations from ex-Tory donors

Nadine Dorries has defected to Reform on the eve of its conference, saying the Conservative party “is dead”.

The former Tory cabinet minister, a close ally of Boris Johnson when he was prime minister, served as culture secretary until 2022 before resigning a year later when blocked from getting a peerage.

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MPs to tighten laws allowing foreign donations to influence UK elections

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Exclusive: changes will end illegitimate funding via shell firms and subject donors to enhanced tests, backed by stronger fines

Ministers are planning to close loopholes that could allow foreign money to influence UK elections, with a crackdown on illegitimate donations through shell companies and new tests on political donors.

As part of a push to tighten up electoral law, the government will on Thursday announce a series of measures to ensure donations come from allowable UK sources.

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Tories lose one of their biggest donors in major blow to Kemi Badenoch

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Exclusive: Richard Harpin pauses donations in move insiders say will result in closure of party’s northern HQ

One of the Conservatives’ biggest donors has stopped funding the party in a move insiders believe will result in the closure of its northern HQ, the Guardian can reveal.

Richard Harpin, the founder of the home repairs business HomeServe, has ended his donations to the Conservatives, according to two Tory sources.

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MPs in new freebie row after accepting darts hospitality from betting firm

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Labour’s James Frith and Conservative Caroline Nokes gifted tickets by Paddy Power worth up to £1,000 each

Two MPs received VIP tickets for the sold-out World Darts Championships courtesy of a betting company – weeks after a national outcry over politicians accepting freebies.

Labour MP James Frith, who has campaigned for safer gambling, and Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, the deputy speaker of the House of Commons, were gifted “platinum” hospitality tickets by Paddy Power worth up to £1,000 each.

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Proportion of children in Great Britain with gambling problem has doubled, data reveals

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Gambling Commission figures show shock rise to 85,000 in number of young people suffering gambling harms

The proportion of young people in Great Britain with a gambling problem has more than doubled, according to “astonishing” official data that prompted calls for urgent government intervention.

New figures from the Gambling Commission, which regulates bookies, online casinos and the national lottery, revealed a shock rise, to 85,000, in the number of children classified as having a gambling problem under widely used diagnostic criteria.

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Starmer repaid freebies to restore trust in politics, minister says

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Sarah Jones suggests PM believes he should be held to higher standards now he is in government

Keir Starmer has repaid thousands of pounds in freebies to restore trust in politics, a minister has said as she ruled out accepting more hospitality.

Sarah Jones, the industry minister, said the prime minister’s motivation for repaying the money was “to do more to make people trust politicians”.

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Starmer’s free tickets for Arsenal and Taylor Swift part of job, says minister

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Business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, defends PM over gifts he has received since becoming Labour leader

Keir Starmer’s attendance at Arsenal football matches and Taylor Swift concerts is “part of the job”, the business secretary has said.

Jonathan Reynolds described the occasions for which Starmer had accepted tickets, including a Coldplay gig and football matches, as “major cultural, sporting events”.

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Keir Starmer alleged to have broken rules over party donor’s gifts to wife

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The prime minister made a late declaration of a personal shopper and clothes for his wife paid for by Lord Alli

Keir Starmer is alleged to have broken parliamentary rules by failing to declare donations of clothing for his wife from the Labour donor Waheed Alli.

The gifts to Victoria Starmer were not initially declared in the register of MPs’ interests, the Sunday Times reported.

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Diane Abbott says Tories paying ‘lip service’ to fighting racism after further Hester donation

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Party took £5m after Rishi Sunak condemned businessman for saying Abbott made you ‘want to hate all black women’

Diane Abbott has said the Conservatives are “only paying lip service to fighting racism” after it emerged their controversial donor Frank Hester had given a further £5m to the party before the election.

The donation, made by his company the Phoenix Partnership, brings his total funding to the Tories to more than £20m, cementing his status as their single biggest donor.

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New Frank Hester race claims pile pressure on Tories over £15m donations

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Exclusive: Hester allegedly used term ‘token Muslim’, imitated people of Chinese descent and said a person was attractive for a black woman

The Conservative party is facing questions over its decision to keep more than £15m given by its biggest ever donor, Frank Hester, after former employees made a series of fresh allegations.

Hester is alleged to have referred to a staff member as the “token Muslim”, imitated people of Chinese descent and remarked that one individual was attractive for a black woman, according to former employees who spoke to the Guardian.

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Tory donors pour cash into seats held by big names at risk of losing

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Exclusive: Over £2.5m for MPs such as Fox and Mordaunt in what will be the highest-spending UK election

Conservative donors have poured more than £2.5m into key election battlegrounds to shore up support for MPs, such as Liam Fox and Penny Mordaunt, who are in danger of losing their seats.

The 2024 election will be the highest-spending UK contest, after the government raised national election limits to £34m per party – leaving the Conservatives and Labour in an arms race to raise cash.

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Tory chair refuses to say whether party took further £5m from Frank Hester

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Richard Holden says Hester apologised for remarks about Diane Abbott and ‘we should accept that’

The Conservative party chair, Richard Holden, has four times refused to say whether the party continues to take millions from its biggest donor, Frank Hester, after it was revealed the businessman had made comments condemned as racist and misogynistic.

Holden said he could not comment on whether the Tories had recently accepted £5m, after it emerged that Hester told colleagues in 2019 that looking at Diane Abbott made you “want to hate all black women” and said she “should be shot”.

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