The two £36 million donations to Nigel Farage’s party from crypto billionaires are grotesque. These people barely live in the UK and certainly have no commitment to improving standards in public life. The characters say they want nothing in return… umm…The crypto space is controversial and ripe for further oversight. Theresa May made the case forcibly in the House of Lords yesterday that the wealth created from crypto should have no role in UK politics.
Money is not everything…
Our political system is relatively clean but not wholly. A report in 2021 by The Sunday Times and Open Democracy showed a clear correlation between an average donation of £3 million to the Tory Party by Tory Treasurers and a seat in the Lords. Tony Blair was investigated in 2007 in a Cash-for-Honours scandal. Whilst the Crown Prosecution Service did not bring any charges, the Labour Party was forced to return sizeable sums of cash and it tainted the end of Blair’s premiership.
Then there is the continuing hypocrisy of the Trade Unions and the Labour Party. DonationWatch has identified £93 million of donations to Labour from the unions since 2010, with the largest, Unite, giving a staggering £53 million. I am sure they expect union friendly policies in return…
So what is the difference? First, it is the transparency of political donations to parties to date. It took me just 15 minutes to dig up past numbers and the source of those funds. Second, it is the size of the Reform UK donations from individuals who have been based until recently mostly offshore and the secrecy surrounding their activities. Third, Farage is already being investigated for a personal donation of £5 million from one of the donors and the conflicts that are potentially involved. Fourth, and perhaps most potently, it is the sensitivity to the Americanisation of UK politics. Nobody wants to continue down the path of rich people buying political influence without limits even if in the US it is driven through ‘Political Action Committees’. A staggering $15 billion was spent on US elections in 2024, including over $5 billion on the presidential race alone according to the organisation Open Secrets.
When I was a parliamentary candidate in 2001, admittedly in an unwinnable seat, comparing notes at a dinner party with a US Democratic senate candidate going for his party’s nomination in Delaware, he nearly fell off his chair at my budget of £6,000 versus his $7million. The US numbers were huge even then.
Such vast sums of money subvert democracy and lead to Donald Trump type characters getting elected. Ordinary voters get shut out of any debate. Nobody pretends US politics is about policies.
Reassuringly, the backlash to Reform’s donations is mounting. Nearly two-thirds of the public believe they reflect a problem with the way the party is run and deals with its finances according to a poll run by City AM/Freshwater Strategy. Reform outside its core supporters has a somewhat seedy image. This problem has just been compounded.
The solution? A cap on individual donations and, more controversially, some state aid to benefit smaller parties which may even be to the advantage of Reform. Proportional representation would help too. It is harder to buy parliamentary majorities in such a system.
America has led the way with the sheer size of money needed to finance an increasingly dysfunctional democracy. It is driven by billionaires and nobody wants that over here.
Inside Right Politics 