Christopher Harborne: Who is the British billionaire behind another big donation to Reform?
Reform UK has secured its second multimillion-pound donation from a top crypto investor, taking Nigel Farage’s party’s fundraising well ahead of both Labor and the Conservatives last year.
Thailand-based businessman Christopher Harborne made a further donation of £3 million in November last year, months after he gave £9 million to Reform – the largest donation from a living person to a political party in British history, the Electoral Commission said on Thursday.
This means Mr Harborne was responsible for more than half of the £5.5 million ($7.4 million) raised by Reform in the fourth quarter of last year.
Mr Harborne, a British businessman with a long association with right-wing politics and Brexit, has made significant donations to both the Conservative Party and the Brexit Party in previous years and even accompanied Boris Johnson on a trip to Ukraine, where he was prime minister.
Who is Christopher Harborne?
Mr Harborne is a British businessman in his early sixties and a leading cryptocurrency investor.
He was educated at Westminster School, an elite private school near parliament, before studying at Downing College, Cambridge, and gaining an MBA at the prestigious business school INSEAD.
He currently resides in Thailand and holds Thai citizenship under the name Chakrit Sakunkrit.
Where did his wealth come from?
Earlier in his career, Mr. Harborne worked as a management consultant at McKinsey and Co. before moving to Asia to run a research firm.
He is currently chief executive of Sherriff Global Group, which trades private aircraft, and owns AML Global, which sells aviation fuel.
In addition, Mr Harborne also has a shareholding interest in defense technology firm Qinetiq, which has previously received contracts from the Ministry of Defense (MoD).
Apart from his aviation business, he is a technology investor and founded a company called Singular AI Consulting Limited and is currently a shareholder of the Tether cryptocurrency.
What does it have to do with politics?
The businessman has donated to right-wing parties on a number of occasions, including a £6 million donation to the Brexit Party in 2019 and a £3 million donation made shortly before the 2019 general election.
He has also made smaller donations to the Conservative Party since 2001, amounting to around £15,000 a year.
In November 2022, Mr Harborne donated £1 million to Boris Johnson’s private office; this is one of the largest donations ever made to a British politician.
He later advised the former prime minister during his trip to Kiev to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky in September 2023.
Reform UK has denied that Nigel Farage’s promotion of cryptocurrency Tether, in which Harborne is a shareholder, and support for deregulating cryptocurrency in the UK were linked to the donation.
When asked about the link, a party spokesman said: “No. [It is] Because [Harborne] “He supports Reformation England, just as he supports the Brexit Party.”
