REFORM boss Nigel Farage is wallowing in cash as his hard-right party secured a record-breaking donation designed to buy the next general election.

Cryptocurrency speculator Christopher Harborne, resident in Thailand, handed Mr Farage a £9 million donation, the largest ever political gift by a living person.

Outrage greeted the news, which can only turbo-charge the drive on power by Reform, already leading in the opinion polls.

And it comes as the party is mired in racism rows on multiple fronts, underlining its threat to democracy.

Reform deputy leader Richard Tice dismissed out of hand well-attested allegations about Mr Farage’s schoolboy racism and admiration for Hitler.

“This is all made-up twaddle by people who don’t want Nigel to be prime minister of the country. Every week the voters are going out in by-elections, and they are voting for Reform because they are not buying into this left-wing, anti-Nigel narrative,” he said.

Labour Party chair Anna Turley responded to Mr Tice by saying Mr Farage should apologise instead.

 “It took serious courage for the victims of Nigel Farage’s alleged racism to come forward and tell their story,” she said. 

“It’s utterly deplorable that Richard Tice has dismissed this and suggested they are lying, despite Farage himself refusing to offer a categorical denial. 

“Instead of repeatedly changing their story, Nigel Farage and Richard Tice should urgently apologise to those bravely raising these serious concerns. Reform want to drag our politics to a dark place and it shows they are not fit for high office,” Ms Turley added.

But Reform was forced to announce it was investigating social media posts attributed by Hope Not Hate to its leader on Staffordshire county council, Ian Cooper.

Accounts apparently linked to Mr Cooper featured comments telling an academic to “f- off back to Nigeria,” calling London Mayor Sadiq Khan a “narcissistic Pakistani” and describing a British-born woman as “neither ethnically, culturally or historically English… all you have is a piece of paper entitling you to British citizenship.”

He also suggested that Justice Secretary David Lammy, who is black British, should not be allowed to sit in the House of Commons.

A Reform UK organiser in Staffordshire has already been forced out because of links to neonazi groups.

The donation by Mr Harborne propelled Reform into first place in the fundraising stakes, according to the Electoral Commission. It received a total of £10.5 million in the third quarter of 2025, while the Tories got almost £7m, and Labour just £2.5m.

The TUC pointed out that “Nigel Farage has received a record £9m donation from Thai-based crypto CEO Christopher Harbone. Nigel Farage has proposed cutting taxes and regulations on the crypto industry.”

And Jess Garland of the Electoral Reform Society said: “We are seeing an alarming trend of parties receiving larger and larger donations from single super-wealthy donors and the public are rightly asking what these very rich people expect in return for their money.

“The UK is uniquely exposed in this new era of mega donors as we do not even have a donations cap meaning parties can receive unlimited sums.

“The government urgently needs to reform our party finance laws to ensure that political parties are focused on bettering the lives of voters not super rich donors,” she said.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: “When a single party can be bankrolled by a handful of wealthy individuals, it drowns out the voices of ordinary people and tilts the entire system towards the interests of those elites.

“This is exactly why we need a cap on political donations. Democracy should never be for sale. Every party should compete on ideas, not on the size of their donor spreadsheet.”

And Your Party commented: “Reform just got a nine-million-pound donation. They’re no alternative — just the same old rich boys funded by even richer donors. It’s time for a politics by the people, for the people.”

The only larger donation was made by a dead man, with Lord Sainsbury bequeathing £10 million to the Tories in his will in 2022. Mr Harborne previously donated to the Tories under Boris Johnson.

An equally interesting, if less substantial, donation to Mr Farage came from the wife of Daily Mail proprietor Lord Rothermere, who gave £50,000.

Mr Farage claimed today that Mr Harborne wanted “absolutely nothing in return at all” for his cash, and that things were not looking good for Mr Cooper in Staffordshire.

He also indicated that he would be “more than happy” to talk to shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, whose ambitions provide the likeliest path to a Reform-Tory electoral pact.