Delo was convicted in the US in 2022 for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls at the cryptocurrency exchange he co-founded, and was later pardoned by Donald Trump. He gave £4m to Reform in January and has now doubled that contribution. A party source said Reform is confident it will not have to return the latest payment, suggesting Delo may meet the residency conditions that exempt donors from the government's overseas cap.
The cap, introduced in March, restricts donors who are not on the UK domestic electoral register for at least 12 months to an annual limit of £100,000. That rule threatens the ability of some large backers based overseas to fund UK parties at previous levels. Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto investor, remains Reform's largest donor with £15m given to the party since the last election and a further £5m given to Nigel Farage personally before May 2024. Harborne and the billionaire Sasan Ghandehari did not register donations in the second quarter and could be affected by the cap.
New Electoral Commission figures show £17m in donations to parties in the second quarter, up from £11m the previous year, as parties prepare for a possible earlier election under the Burnham administration. Donations recorded in the quarter include £650,000 to Labour from Autoglass founder Gary Lubner and Lord Sainsbury, and £550,000 from entrepreneur Ali Mosawi. The Conservatives received £265,000 from Flowidea, owned by banker Henry Angest, while Restore Britain logged a £250,000 gift from Cade Hill Investments, owned by Simon Galbraith.
Delo, who has said he is in the process of moving back to the UK, wrote in the Telegraph that England is his home and that "the biggest obstacle to national recovery is the entrenched self-deception of our elites." The government has launched a task force and is weighing an annual cap on donations from UK-based donors, but ministers omitted a domestic cap from the new elections bill after unions raised concerns about their capacity to donate. The outcome of those policy decisions will determine whether large private contributions, including Delo's, remain a central feature of UK party finance.
