Reform UK has received a £36m donation from a British cryptocurrency billionaire – a record for a UK political party.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Ben Delo said he was making the move because he wanted a “fair fight and a level playing field”.

The sum is the biggest single donation ever given to a political party in the UK.

Party leader Nigel Farage said he was “honoured and humbled” by the gift.

Delo said he was donating £1m a month between now and the latest date Labour could call a general election in 2029 – but that he would give all the money up front in case the government tried to limit mega-donations in future.

There are currently no restrictions on the amount of money UK-based donors can give to political parties.

But Labour previously introduced a £100,000 cap on donations from British citizens living overseas.

Sheffield-born Delo, who has already donated £4m to Reform, has previously said he will move back to the UK from Hong Kong in order to continue his backing for the party.

Last year, Delo was given an unconditional pardon by US President Donald Trump over a Bank Secrecy Act violation.

In the Telegraph, Delo wrote: “Unlike the people who express mock concern for the health of ‘our democracy’ while doing everything they can to keep it as a cartel, I want a fair fight and a level playing field.

“My conclusion from Reform’s recent troubles is that they should spend less time trying to raise funds to compete on equal terms and more time preparing for government.”

Reform’s fundraising has been under scrutiny with police announcing an investigation over allegations it broke foreign funding laws, following a broadcast by Channel 4 News last week.

The party denied any wrongdoing and said it would co-operate with the investigation.

Farage is also under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner over whether he should have declared a £5m cash gift he received from Thailand-based cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne ahead of the 2024 election upon his election as an MP.

Farage argues he was under no obligation to register the “purely private” gift, as it was unrelated to his parliamentary or political activities.

The Metropolitan Police is also investigating whether payments to Reform in the weeks before the last election complied with donation laws.

The police inquiry is looking at donations given directly to the party by Fiona Cottrell, mother of longstanding Farage ally George Cottrell.

It is also examining payments from a company controlled by Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, which received £1m from Fiona Cottrell in June 2024.

The restrictions on donations from Britons living abroad prompted a furious row with Reform and its key donors, who have accused Labour of trying to stymie their party’s progress.

The government has also sought to prevent overseas voters moving to the UK from giving more than £100,000 for a year after their arrival as part of the Representation of the People Bill, which has its second reading in the Lords on Monday.

Last year Harborne gave a single donation of £9m to Reform – which was the biggest single donation to a UK political party by a living person at the time.

The Conservatives had received £10m as a legacy but that too has been eclipsed by Delo’s latest donation.

Responding to the donation, a Labour Party spokesperson said Farage was “still up to his neck in scandal” and “the questions he faces aren’t going away – in fact they’re piling up”.

“Reform UK can’t buy their way out of questions about sleaze, criminal mates and dodgy finances,” they said. “It’s time Farage and Reform finally came clean with the public, co-operated fully with the police, and proved they’re not just in it for themselves.”

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson Lisa Smart said Farage wanted to “bring Trump’s America to our shores by buying his way into power”.

“He’s trying to get into Number 10 as if it’s a stop on a monopoly board,” the Liberal Democrat added. “It can’t go on like this. Andy Burnham needs to introduce a cap on political donations. Our democracy depends on it.”

The Metropolitan Police is carrying out a criminal investigation into Reform UK over allegations it broke foreign funding laws, following a broadcast by Channel 4 News last week.

An undercover reporter recorded two senior Reform aides apparently suggesting a way around electoral law to secure foreign party donations, one of which would have totalled £500,000.

The police investigation by the Met’s Special Enquiry Team is being folded into an inquiry that has been under way into other donations to the party.

A Reform UK spokesman said the party “denies any wrongdoing and will fully cooperate with the investigation”.

“We won’t be commenting further while a live investigation is under way.”

A Met spokesperson said it had received “a number of reports relating to donations and polling involving a political party”, after the film by Channel 4 News and Verbatim Investigations was shown on Thursday evening.

In its statement, the Met Police said: “All allegations under investigation relate to potential offences under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.”

“Detectives continue to liaise closely with the Electoral Commission and Crown Prosecution Service as enquiries progress.”

The police spokesperson said detectives were seeking to obtain footage relating to the broadcast.

An Electoral Commission spokesperson said the Channel 4 News report included “serious allegations of wrongdoing”, adding: “It is right that these are properly and thoroughly investigated by the police.

“In parallel, we are also considering all relevant information and regulatory steps.”

The film overshadowed the party’s conference in Birmingham and led to the party losing two key figures – Dan Jukes, chief of staff to the leader Nigel Farage, and James Orr, head of policy.

In the news report, an undercover investigator posing as the son of an American donor is recorded raising a concern that his father wouldn’t be able to directly donate to the party within the law.

Electoral law states that to be a permissible donor to a UK political party you must be a UK registered voter, or a company registered in the UK.

Jukes appears to suggest that the donation could be in the UK-based son’s name, although the money would have come from his American father.

Elsewhere, James Orr, the party’s head of policy suggests that the father could pay for opinion polling to support one of Reform’s campaigns.

Farage and Jukes were also filmed at a lunch in Clacton where it is suggested the US donor, who was being played by an actor, gives £500,000 to Reform through his son.

Farage told the BBC he “frankly wasn’t listening” to the discussion about the potential donation. Channel 4 News has said the payment was never made.

He dismissed the comments made by his aide in the film as “loose pub talk including a couple of boasts that simply were not true”.

Jukes has denied “any wrongdoing” and said he had “stepped back from politics in order to clear my name”.

Last week, Orr told Sky News he would cooperate with the party’s internal investigation “fully”.

The Met had already been investigating whether payments to Reform in the weeks before the last election complied with donation laws.

The probe is examining donations given directly to the party by Fiona Cottrell, mother of longstanding Nigel Farage ally, George Cottrell.

It is also examining payments from a company controlled by Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice, which received £1m from Fiona Cottrell in June 2024.

A Verbatim Investigations spokesperson said: “Verbatim will cooperate with the police’s investigation.”

Labour Party Chair Bridget Phillipson said: “Farage needs to wake up and realise the buck stops with him.

“Reform’s failure to take responsibility for their actions shows just how unfit they are for office.”

The Liberal Democrat’s Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart said: “Every Reform MP urgently needs to state whether they or their campaigns have benefited from any foreign money.”

Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party in England and Wales, said: “Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson hoped they could pin all this on two of their most senior advisors, but they have more questions to answer about how much they knew.”

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Nigel Farage’s senior aide suggested a way to get around electoral law to secure a foreign donation of £500,000 for Reform UK, according to undercover filming broadcast by Channel 4.

Dan Jukes was filmed meeting a man posing as the British-based son of a rich American businessman.

Electoral law sets out that to be a permissible donor to a UK political party you must be a UK registered voter, or a company registered in the UK.

In this instance, the son would be a permissible donor, his father would not be.

The undercover filming was done by a group called Verbatim Investigations, which was founded by journalists from the Centre for Climate Reporting. Channel 4 News say they have verified the material they were given and chose to broadcast.

Reform UK denies any wrongdoing and claims to have “been the target of a hoax perpetuated by foreign funded climate change activists”.

The reporter posing as the son of the American donor is filmed raising a concern that his father wouldn’t be able to directly donate to the party within the law.

Filmed standing outside a pub in Westminster, Jukes said “you do realise that you can do it?”

Channel 4 say Jukes was suggesting that the donation could be in the UK-based son’s name, although the money would have come from his American father.

“Actually that does strike me as a solution,” Jukes continues.

He then claims they have done it several times before, in exchanges bleeped out but which appear to refer to other instances where this mechanism had been used before.

“That’s one of the ways in which we do it,” he is recorded as saying.

Reform UK have launched an internal investigation into Jukes. They would not confirm if he remained a party spokesperson.

Later, Channel 4 broadcast footage from a lunch in Clacton in Essex, with both the reporter posing as the UK-based son, and an actor – his supposed American father. Opposite them are both Dan Jukes and the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

Farage says “it’s all above board” after the son has told him he has been in discussions with both Jukes and Reform’s Head of Policy, James Orr about it for some time.

“I’ll be the registered donor,” the son says. “But then dad will send the money to me, and then as soon as that’s done and all those conversations are had the money is available.”

“Thank you. Well, both of you. Thank you,” Farage is heard saying.

Orr is also now the subject of an internal Reform UK investigation.

Earlier in Channel 4 News’s film, prior to the suggested half a million pound donation, Channel 4 says Orr suggests to the undercover reporter that perhaps his father could pay for opinion polling to aide Reform’s campaigning.

The poll would cost £18,000 plus VAT – and Orr suggests that perhaps the polling company could send the bill to the undercover reporter.

In all, Channel 4 News says Reform commissioned three polls costing £32,500 in total and that the public was not told who commissioned or funded them.

Not disclosing such funding would be illegal and accepting this kind of foreign funding would also be illegal.

A Reform spokesperson said: “Reform UK has been the target of a hoax perpetuated by foreign-funded, climate change activists posing as would-be party donors. The party denies any wrongdoing.

“Reform UK has a robust vetting process for prospective donors approved by the Electoral Commission.

“The hoaxers are ‘Verbatim Investigations’; a new company, incorporated in July 2026 in an attempt to mask their true identity: the Center for Climate Reporting (CCR). The methods of its founder, Lawrence Carter, have previously been rebuked by members of the United States Congress for videos [that] appear to be substantially edited, creating an incomplete record of the conversation.”

An Electoral Commission spokesperson said: “The law requires political parties to report all permissible donations they accept with a value over £11,180 and all impermissible donations over £500.

“Information about any potential attempt to evade the controls on donations is for the police to consider.”

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police told the BBC: “We’re aware of media reporting on Thursday, 3 September involving political party donations and an alleged breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 relating to polling. We will assess this matter and any information provided to us.”

It is understood the force has not begun an investigation.

Jukes has been approached for comment.

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