Reform refinanced

Nigel Farage’s “startup” party Reform UK is attracting the attention of prospective mega-donors on a scale that could change the face of British politics.

So what? This is about Elon Musk, but not just Musk. This week the property tycoon and former Tory donor Nick Candy became the party’s treasurer, pledging £1 million of his own with plans to raise up to £40 million in total.

For what? Reform wants to freeze all “non-essential” immigration, leaving the European Convention on Human Rights if necessary. Other pledges in its 2024 campaign “contract” with voters included lower taxes, less business regulation and an end to net zero levies.

With what? Musk, with whom Candy has already started conversations, is reportedly considering a “f*** Starmer” donation of up to $100 million (£80 million). For context, Britain’s biggest non-union donors in the last parliament were:

• Frank Hester and his company The Phoenix Partnership – £20 million to the Conservatives
• Lord John Sainsbury – £10.2 million to the Conservatives
• Gary Lubner – £5.5 million to Labour
• Mohamed Mansour – £5.27 million to the Conservatives
• Graham Edwards – £5.2 million to the Conservatives

Reform, which until July had no elected MPs, is a relative minnow, having raised £1.6 million of which £500,000 was from a business owned by the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice.

Value added. Farage has shown a talent for generating a lot of media attention with relatively little money, forcing the Brexit referendum and, ultimately, the UK’s departure from the EU. Now his party has

• five MPs;
• solid double-digit polling; and
• its sights on 98 seats in which it came second in the 2024 election (in 89 of them to Labour).

A step change in Reform’s funding could give Farage an even more influential voice.

Ways to spend. Political parties can’t buy TV time in the UK, but they can buy eyeballs on social media, where well-crafted videos spread the word far more effectively. With more money Reform could also be expected to pay for Farage to travel the country, improve vetting procedures for prospective candidates and promote successful candidates with more sophistication than this year.

The next general election may not be until 2029 but there are local elections in May.

If Musk gave even a quarter of the rumoured £80 million sum, he would change the fortunes of the party – and the likely direction of the country – forever. And as things stand, there is nothing stopping the world’s richest person giving as much as he likes.

Under UK law:

• Individuals can donate if they are eligible to vote, even if they don’t live in the UK.
• Donations can also be made through UK-listed companies – even those that don’t make a profit or have opaque funding.
• Donations can also be made through unincorporated associations and opaque membership groups, which can be set up to advance almost any cause.
• There is no cap on the total sum donated.

Even if there was a breach of the rules, the maximum fine that can be imposed by a weakened Electoral Commission is £20,000 – back-of-the-sofa change for Musk.

So fit a cap. Some campaigners argue for a cap of £10,000 a year for donations, as well as a rule that only resident UK citizens can donate to UK parties.

Unlock Democracy wants only firms that are in profit and active in the UK to be allowed to donate. It argues that if the UK fails to reform rules on donations it will be “skewing power towards those with the deepest pockets, without any strengthening of the transparency mechanisms to hold them accountable”.

Is the government listening? In its manifesto, Labour promised to tighten the rules. Officials are examining options, but concrete proposals aren’t likely to be brought forward in the next year – by which time Reform UK could be the best-funded party in the country.

What’s more… At least some of that money could be from a man whose interest in British politics appears limited to what he reads on his own social media platform.