This is an extract from Nigel Farage’s latest essay. Read it in full and subscribe to his Substack here.
I suppose we were due a good, old-fashioned row over political funding. Angela Rayner has been quite clear how she views Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne: she referenced their donations to Reform UK before claiming Labour will “defend our democracy and society from any foreign dictator or fascist oligarch who seeks to divide our country and buy our politics”. And in doing so, she’s made quite clear what the purpose of Labour’s new election law is, too: attempting by any means necessary to starve Reform of funds.
It’s an extraordinary state of affairs. Mr Delo and Mr Harborne are British citizens and successful entrepreneurs. Implying they’re “foreign dictators” or “fascist oligarchs” is downright dangerous. And they are entitled to vote in Britain, and they are entitled to donate in Britain. Indeed, as recently as 2022, it was government policy to make this easier: that year’s Elections Act extended the eligibility of Britons overseas to vote from a 15-year period to an indefinite one, in the process enabling them to donate to UK political parties so long as they were registered to vote here.
I wonder what’s changed?
Obviously controversy over political funding is nothing new. For decades, scandals occurred almost as regularly as clockwork. David Lloyd George’s practice of blatantly flogging titles in exchange for donations was so embarrassing that the practice was legislated against. In Thatcher’s early years in office, businessmen with deep pockets turned out to also possess precisely the sort of qualities the Prime Minister wanted in the Lords. And there was Tony Blair’s cash-for-honours scandal, where he became the first serving Prime Minister questioned by the police in a criminal investigation.
But we have been living in a period of relative quiet. After the Blair crisis, against all odds, we entered a period where media attention was elsewhere. What I think happened was a tacit deal between the wings of the Uniparty: you don’t look at our funding, and we won’t look at yours.
After all, the link between cash and honours remained as strong as it ever was. The probability of donors ending up in the Lords at the rate they did purely through coincidence were worse than winning the lottery jackpot.
I consider myself to be a pretty lucky man, but even I wouldn’t take those odds. Donating £1.5 million to the Conservatives made you more likely than not to get a peerage. Donating £3 million almost guaranteed it. Even failing vetting wasn’t enough to stop Peter Cruddas getting his seat, with £500,000 landing in the Tory coffers three days after he got into the Lords.
Labour is just as bad. Eight companies gave Labour £580,000 between them before the election; when the party took office, they received contracts worth £138 million in its first year in office. A 23,700% return on their investment. The Unions, which have given the party £142 million since 2010 - not counting donations to individual Labour MPs - got legislation empowering strikes and billions in pay rises for staff. And of course, Lord Alli received a complimentary pass to Downing Street after showering Keir Starmer and his crew with freebies.
So yes, there are scandals that should be addressed. If you ask me, political funding was rotten and is rotten still. Which is why Reform UK has been clear: not a single party donor will go into the Lords. Not one. And we won’t be doling out crony contracts either.
I suppose we were due a good, old-fashioned row over political funding. Angela Rayner has been quite clear how she views Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne: she referenced their donations to Reform UK before claiming Labour will “defend our democracy and society from any foreign dictator or fascist oligarch who seeks to divide our country and buy our politics”. And in doing so, she’s made quite clear what the purpose of Labour’s new election law is, too: attempting by any means necessary to starve Reform of funds.
It’s an extraordinary state of affairs. Mr Delo and Mr Harborne are British citizens and successful entrepreneurs. Implying they’re “foreign dictators” or “fascist oligarchs” is downright dangerous. And they are entitled to vote in Britain, and they are entitled to donate in Britain. Indeed, as recently as 2022, it was government policy to make this easier: that year’s Elections Act extended the eligibility of Britons overseas to vote from a 15-year period to an indefinite one, in the process enabling them to donate to UK political parties so long as they were registered to vote here.
I wonder what’s changed?
Obviously controversy over political funding is nothing new. For decades, scandals occurred almost as regularly as clockwork. David Lloyd George’s practice of blatantly flogging titles in exchange for donations was so embarrassing that the practice was legislated against. In Thatcher’s early years in office, businessmen with deep pockets turned out to also possess precisely the sort of qualities the Prime Minister wanted in the Lords. And there was Tony Blair’s cash-for-honours scandal, where he became the first serving Prime Minister questioned by the police in a criminal investigation.
But we have been living in a period of relative quiet. After the Blair crisis, against all odds, we entered a period where media attention was elsewhere. What I think happened was a tacit deal between the wings of the Uniparty: you don’t look at our funding, and we won’t look at yours.
After all, the link between cash and honours remained as strong as it ever was. The probability of donors ending up in the Lords at the rate they did purely through coincidence were worse than winning the lottery jackpot.
I consider myself to be a pretty lucky man, but even I wouldn’t take those odds. Donating £1.5 million to the Conservatives made you more likely than not to get a peerage. Donating £3 million almost guaranteed it. Even failing vetting wasn’t enough to stop Peter Cruddas getting his seat, with £500,000 landing in the Tory coffers three days after he got into the Lords.
Labour is just as bad. Eight companies gave Labour £580,000 between them before the election; when the party took office, they received contracts worth £138 million in its first year in office. A 23,700% return on their investment. The Unions, which have given the party £142 million since 2010 - not counting donations to individual Labour MPs - got legislation empowering strikes and billions in pay rises for staff. And of course, Lord Alli received a complimentary pass to Downing Street after showering Keir Starmer and his crew with freebies.
So yes, there are scandals that should be addressed. If you ask me, political funding was rotten and is rotten still. Which is why Reform UK has been clear: not a single party donor will go into the Lords. Not one. And we won’t be doling out crony contracts either.
Picture by Pieter Pienaar.
