Revealed: 80% of Reform’s funding comes from Tory donors

An investigation by the Nerve has revealed that Reform UK’s funding since 2019 has overwhelmingly come from traditionally Conservative sources, with the finding fuelling anger within the party from former members who feel “betrayed”.

On the day that Nigel Farage has unveiled his shadow front bench – including two leading former Tory ministers, Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman – the Nerve can reveal that the Conservative connection runs much deeper in Reform: more than 80% of the party’s total funding since 2019 is from Conservative donors or figures closely associated with the party. 

Although Reform has raised a total of £36m in that period, analysis by the Nerve reveals that more than £29m has come from traditionally Conservative sources. That figure, along with a slew of recent defections from the Tory party, has alarmed many Reform members; some say this confirms their view that Reform UK is really the Conservative party in disguise. At the time of writing, half of Reform UK’s newly announced “shadow cabinet” are former Tory ministers.

In addition to the 81% from Tory and ex-Tory donors, another 11% has come from Reform’s very wealthy leaders donating to their own party, and from the mother of Farage’s former chief of staff. 

The Nerve’s analysis shows that without funds from these two groups, Reform only raised £3m from all other sources. To put that into perspective, it is less than half the amount the Green party has raised in the same period. 

The Nerve has spoken to several formerly prominent members of Reform who say that they feel betrayed by the party’s acceptance of money from traditionally Conservative donors and that it reveals Reform is the Tory party in sheep's clothing. 

Edward Hill, a former Reform councillor from Exeter, said: “The growing overlap in donors and defecting Conservative politicians has left a number of members disillusioned.” He said the party no longer “reflected” the one he had joined. 

Around £28.5m of donations – 78.9% of Reform’s total – comes from just 26 individuals and companies who have given money to the Conservative party, some of whom have been Tory donors for decades. 

In total, 23 Conservative MPs and former MPs have defected to Reform but the Nerve’s analysis also reveals that much of the money flowing into the Conservative party has now been diverted to Reform. 

This includes the biggest donors, such as cryptocurrency, laser-weapon and aircraft-fuel billionaire Christopher Harborne, who gave large amounts of money to both the Conservatives and Reform up to 2022 before switching to Reform. Between 2019 and 2022, Harborne gave more than £1.5m to the Conservatives, plus £1m to Boris Johnson after he resigned as prime minister. So far, Harborne has given nearly £23m to Reform UK. 

Lord Bamford, whose company – JCB – and family have given over £9m to the Conservatives since 2015, has donated £200,000 to Reform. Jeremy Hosking, the multimillionaire financier,  has donated £700,000 to the Conservatives and £2.5m to Reform.

The Nerve spoke to former Reform members who said that the findings confirmed what they had already thought or suspected. Sarah Morris, a former Reform parliamentary candidate and branch chair on the Isle of Wight, said that members needed to “follow the money”.

“If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s to follow the money. We need a party and candidates who are not financially controlled or incentivised,” Morris said. “Reform are now fully part of the establishment and will promise you the world, but deliver whatever the highest bidder demands.”

Her comments and those of other former Reform members also echo comments posted online. James Freeman Wells, a former Brexit MEP who worked closely with Nigel Farage and the now-convicted leader of Reform in Wales, Nathan Gill, posted on Facebook: “MONEY ALWAYS COMES WITH STRINGS AND LEOPARDS DON'T CHANGE THEIR SPOTS.”

The Nerve’s analysis also reveals that several donors gave to both parties during overlapping periods.

Racehorse owner Fitriani Hay, for example, started giving to the Conservatives in 2005. She has donated to the party more than 30 times in total, giving around £800,000. Electoral Commission records show that on 4 June, Hay gave two donations of £5,000 to the Conservatives. The next day, on 5 June, she gave £50,000 to Reform. Five days later, on 10 June, she gave another £5,000 to the Conservatives. 

In political terms, the pattern suggests donors backing more than one horse – a manoeuvre that can begin to look like riding two at once, concepts which may be familiar to Hay as a prominent racehorse owner, breeder and competitive rider. There is no suggestion of any illegality. 

Andy Egginton, a former Reform UK parliamentary candidate, used the language of horse racing to describe what he called Reform’s “illusion of choice”. He calls Reform “the light blue horse” in a traditional race “between the red horse and blue horse”, but that actually it is an “establishment invention”. 

Nigel Farage, he said, was “a man who enjoys fox hunting while posturing as a champion of the people, a champagne populist dressed up as a rebel. It’s a strategy to redirect and control a potential rightwing revolt, keeping the anger contained and ensuring the elites can continue their quiet dictatorship unchallenged.”

Since 2019, Reform has raised £36.1m in declared donations. If the money donated by people connected to the Conservatives is discounted, £6.9m remains. Furthermore, £3.9m of that remaining figure was donated by those close to Reform’s leadership: companies owned by Farage and Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice; and direct donations by Reform’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, and Fiona Cottrell, the mother of Farage’s former chief of staff and convicted fraudster George Cottrell. All four are either multimillionaires or billionaires.

If this money linked to the Conservatives and to Reform’s leadership is removed, all that remains – that is, all the money Reform has raised since before Johnson beat Corbyn, before Covid and before we left the European Union – is £3m in declared donations, an average of just £500,000 a year. 

Reform UK did not respond to an invitation to comment.