Reform’s £9m gift and the rise of the political mega-donor

By Sam Power, Lecturer in Politics, University of Bristol

When the latest figures on donations to political parties were released, it was revealed that businessman Christopher Harborne had donated £9 million to Reform. Harborne, who lives in Thailand, made his fortune on aviation and cryptocurrency. Reform leader Nigel Farage insists he wants nothing in return for the money and that the two speak once a month or every six weeks.

Harborne’s is the biggest one-off donation by a living individual in British history. But he’s far from alone in giving massive amounts to parties. Financier Stuart Wheeler gave £5…

Read complete article

~	Why Vladimir Putin’s in no hurry for peace

~	Jurors aren’t impartial – that’s exactly why they are so important to justice

~	Low-tax or high-welfare? The UK must decide what type of country it wants to be

~	Your Party: if the name sounds terrible, there’s a good reason for it

~	Vaccine committee votes to scrap universal hepatitis B shots for newborns despite outcry from children’s health experts

~	Why we created a phone-sized device to take blood diagnostics out of the lab into the real world

~	A brief history of mulled wine – from health tonic to festive treat

~	Nasa robot rover shows that sparks fly in dust storms on Mars

~	Why China is watching Trump’s Venezuela campaign closely

~	Wood-burning stoves face new restrictions – but a loophole from Britain’s smog years is fuelling the problem