Crypto investor gives £9m to Reform UK as donations exceed those to Tories

Christopher Harborne donated more than £10m to Nigel Farage’s Brexit party to fund its 2019 election campaign. Photograph: George Cracknell Wright/LNP

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has received a £9m donation from Christopher Harborne, a leading cryptocurrency investor, as well as £50,000 from the wife of the owner of the Daily Mail.

Harborne, who also has interests in defence and aviation fuel, gave the record donation to Reform over the summer in a boost to the party’s finances before its autumn conference.