By Elizabeth Piper and Carlos Méndez
LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Crypto investor Ben Delo said on Friday he would donate a record £36 million ($48.7 million), or £1 million a month before the next national election, to Britain’s populist Reform UK to help the party get ready for government.
Delo, the British co-founder of crypto trading platform BitMEX who was convicted of a Bank Secrecy Act violation in the United States and pardoned by President Donald Trump, said he wanted to ensure a “fair fight” with Britain’s two main parties — the governing Labour Party and main opposition Conservatives.
After enjoying a commanding lead in opinion polls for over a year, Reform, led by veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, has seen its support wane over a series of allegations about donations before the election, due in mid-2029.
DELO WANTS REFORM TO PREPARE FOR GOVERNMENT
In an opinion piece in the right-leaning Telegraph newspaper, Delo said his “conclusion from Reform’s recent troubles is that they should spend less time trying to raise funds … and more time preparing for government.”
“Reform are making serious plans for government, which is more than Labour did before they won in 2024. It takes time to develop thought-through policies and draft legislation, and it takes real money.”
He did not refer directly to an undercover investigation earlier this month that raised allegations that two senior aides to Farage had broken electoral law by arranging for a foreign donor to pay for political polling.
Farage, who was forced to suspend the two senior aides, welcomed the donation, saying he was “honoured and humbled that Ben Delo has shown such confidence in Reform.”
“Ben knows that we are the only party that can turn the country around and reverse Britain’s decline.”
Delo has long supported Reform, previously giving the party £8 million. The £36 million donation dwarfs the previous record of £10 million that British businessman John Sainsbury, who died in 2022, left to the Conservatives, according to the Electoral Commission’s online database.
In his article, he said he understood how it was to be a startup under scrutiny and wanted to back a party he wanted to help “win and govern.”
“Right now it takes a thick skin to back Reform financially … Is it any wonder successful business people with a stake in mainstream society and a care for their own reputation are shy about writing cheques to Reform?”
($1 = 0.7394 pounds)
(Reporting by Carlos Méndez in Mexico City, Elizabeth Piper and Andrew MacAskill in London; writing by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Rod Nickel)
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