Who is the man behind the record-breaking multi-million pound donation to Reform UK?
Christopher Harborne gave Nigel Farage‘s party £9m in August, according to new data published by the Electoral Commission. The contribution ranks as the largest ever single donation from a living person in UK political history.
Born in Britain, Mr Harborne is a businessman who owns several companies, employing more than 600 people worldwide, according to a court filing dated last year.
Yet he’s not resident in the UK, and is also a citizen of Thailand, where he is known as Chakrit Sakunkrit, and has lived and worked there for 20 years.
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Nonetheless, he has a long history of political donations to British parties.
Electoral Commission data shows he has previously donated to the Conservatives, gifting them £10,000 in May 2001, and continuing to support them with close to £2m in donations by October 2022.
Christopher Harborne, furthest right, joins Boris Johnson, left, during his visit to Lviv, Ukraine. Pic: City of Lviv
But there was been some overlap with his backing of Reform, which first received a donation from him in April 2019, for £200,000.
He’s also donated to Mr Farage personally, giving £27,616.76 in January so the Reform leader could attend the second inauguration of Donald Trump.
He paid another £32,836 for the Reform and a member of staff to fly to the US following the attempted assassination of Trump in July last year.
And he gave one of the biggest donations ever made to an individual UK politician when he backed Boris Johnson to the tune of £1m in 2022.
Christopher Harborne sits second left from Boris Johnson, centre, during his visit to Lviv, Ukraine. Pic: City of Lviv
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