Reform UK receives £72m in donations from crypto billionaires
The party's deputy leader defended the gifts amid calls for stricter donation limits.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage stands with Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice (AFP/Getty)
Photograph: The Independent (US) (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Reform UK received two donations of £36 million each from crypto billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, totalling £72 million.
- The donations have led to renewed calls for a cap on political donations, including a proposed £100,000 annual limit for overseas donors.
- Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice stated the donations are compliant with existing rules and donors will not influence party policy.
- Housing Secretary Angela Rayner suggested the donations could be retrospectively capped if they breach upcoming donation regulations.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 8 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
80/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
22/100
8 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Reform UK has received two donations of £36 million each from crypto billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, amounting to a total of £72 million. These substantial gifts have prompted renewed calls for a cap on political donations in the UK. The party's deputy leader, Richard Tice, defended the donations, stating they comply with current regulations and that the donors would not influence party policy. However, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner indicated that the funds could be subject to retrospective capping if they fall foul of new donation rules.
Disagreement on retrospective capping
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice stated that the donations comply with existing rules and that donors will have no influence over party policy. He accused Labour of attempting to retrospectively alter donation regulations. In contrast, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner suggested that the donations could be covered by a cap on overseas donors, which would be backdated to March 25. She told the BBC that anyone receiving donations that do not comply with current legislation would have 60 days to return the money, with retrospective action applying from March 25.
What the coverage left out
None of the centre or left-rated reports published below mention the specific amounts of any proposed blanket cap on political donations, other than the £100,000 annual limit for overseas donors. The reports also do not detail the specific upcoming donation rules that Housing Secretary Angela Rayner suggested the funds could breach.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 5 times, most recently on 14 Sept 2026, 10:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
Reform UK gets record-breaking donations amid funding investigation
Evening Standard — embedded from source
Reform UK receives £72m in donations from crypto billionaires
Politico Europe — embedded from source
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
3 rated outlets
- The left-rated reports highlighted the record-breaking nature of the donations, with Politico Europe noting that the £72 million received could change the face of British politics. The Independent focused on Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice's defence of the donations, quoting his accusations of Labour's 'hyperventilating hypocrisy' and his assertion that the funding complies with existing rules and that donors would have zero influence over policy. Both outlets mentioned the calls for a blanket cap on political donations.
Centre
4 rated outlets
- Centre-rated reports focused on the government's response and potential regulatory changes. The Evening Standard detailed proposals for reforms to political donations, including a £100,000 limit on donations from overseas electors, and quoted ministers discussing concerns about 'Big Money' in politics. Sky News UK and Great Yorkshire Radio reported that Reform UK was 'very confident' the donations were legal, while also noting Housing Secretary Angela Rayner's warning of potential backdated action. BBC News stated that peers were set to debate changes to donations law for British expats following the Reform UK windfall. The Daily Mail digest mentioned that unions demanded action over the 'super-donations'.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Reform UK receives £72m in donations from crypto billionaires?
- Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 43% are rated left, 57% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 8. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Reform UK receives £72m in donations from crypto billionaires left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Reform UK receives £72m in donations from crypto billionaires biased?
- Reform UK receives £72m in donations from crypto billionaires is one event reported by 8 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Reform UK receives £72m in donations from crypto billionaires?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Reform UK receives £72m in donations from crypto billionaires?
- 8 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- How much money did Reform UK receive in donations?
- Reform UK received two separate donations of £36 million each from crypto billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne. This brings the total amount received to £72 million.
- What has Reform UK said about the donations?
- Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice stated that the donations comply with existing rules and that the donors will have no influence over party policy. He also accused Labour of hypocrisy.
- Could the donations be retrospectively capped?
- Housing Secretary Angela Rayner suggested that the donations could be retrospectively capped if they breach upcoming donation rules. She indicated that any funds not complying with new legislation would need to be returned.
Read it at the source
8 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
3- Tice accuses Labour of ‘hyperventilating hypocrisy’ after Reform’s £72m donations (opens The Independent in a new tab)
The Independent — is The Independent biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tice accuses Labour of ‘hyperventilating hypocrisy’ after Reform’s £72m donations (opens The Independent (US) in a new tab)
The Independent (US) — is The Independent (US) biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Why Reform’s donation will change British politics (opens Politico Europe in a new tab)
Politico Europe — is Politico Europe biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
4- Reform 'very confident' £72m donations were legal - as peers prepare debate on cap (opens Sky News UK in a new tab)
Sky News UK — is Sky News UK biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Unions demand Burnham acts over £72m 'super-donations' to Reform (opens dailymail.com in a new tab)
dailymail.com — is dailymail.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Farage faces donations blow in crackdown on 'Big Money' from wealthy living overseas (opens Evening Standard in a new tab)
Evening Standard — is Evening Standard biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Peers to debate donations law changes after Reform's £72m windfall (opens BBC News in a new tab)
Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
1How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
