{"id":809102,"date":"2026-10-20T23:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T23:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/809102\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T23:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T23:44:13","slug":"senior-reform-official-cast-doubt-over-legality-of-huge-donations-reform-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/809102\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Reform official cast doubt over legality of huge donations | Reform UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

A senior Reform UK official raised questions about whether major donations from billionaire backers Christopher Harborne<\/a> and Ben Delo would be legal under the proposed new foreign donors cap three months before they gave \u00a372m to the party.<\/p>\n

James Orr, who was then Reform UK\u2019s head of policy and a Cambridge professor, discussed potential difficulties around future donations from Harborne and Delo in undercover footage captured by the investigative reporting group Verbatim.<\/p>\n

A reporter was posing as a potential donor when Orr talked to him about \u201cfilling the war chest in anticipation\u201d of tougher donations rules, describing it as the establishment trying to \u201ckneecap\u201d the party.<\/p>\n

Orr was suspended as Reform\u2019s head of policy<\/a> last month after Channel 4 broadcast some of Verbatim\u2019s undercover filming in which he appeared to discuss ways to get around funding laws to allow donations from a US-based donor.<\/p>\n

The matter is under police investigation and he remains suspended, although Reform has released its own report clearing Orr and another official of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

The new footage has been shared with the Guardian after a public debate about whether the two \u00a336m donations from Harborne and Delo<\/a> to Reform UK will be allowed under the cap. The party maintains the donations are legal, pointing out that the retrospective overseas donor cap has not yet been passed into law.<\/p>\n

In the footage, recorded in July this year, Orr expressed doubt about whether Delo and Harborne would still be able to donate given that, when it does become law, the \u00a3100,000 overseas donor cap is to cover party donations dating back to March this year.<\/p>\n

Orr believed Delo would probably meet the residency test as long as he was not required to have been a tax resident, in which case he would be \u201cstuffed\u201d. He said Harborne was \u201cprobably more of a challenge\u201d in terms of avoiding the overseas cap and he \u201ccan\u2019t do anything for 12 months\u201d after moving back.<\/p>\n

Harborne had been living in Thailand until he registered to vote in Hampshire this summer, and Delo has long been resident in Hong Kong, though he has been on the UK domestic register for some years.<\/p>\n

The new law will limit overseas donors to giving \u00a3100,000 a year<\/a> to a political party. It will apply to donations made after March 2026, and will require any domestic donor who wants to give more than \u00a3100,000 to have been resident in the UK for at least a year.<\/p>\n

In the discussion, Orr was recorded as saying the party was too reliant on Harborne and Delo as \u201ctwo big whales\u201d. He said the new law was \u201ca retrospective law, which is unheard of. So, we\u2019re going to challenge it in the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Orr discusses potential problems with future donations from billionaire backers \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Orr added: \u201cWe\u2019ll push it through judicial review. And then \u2026 so, we\u2019ll have a big fight. But, yeah, the last few days we\u2019ve been working hard on just filling the war chest as best we can, in anticipation of something quite brutal.\u201d<\/p>\n

On whether the two men would be caught by the overseas cap, he said: \u201cI mean, there\u2019s going to be a huge fight over that. But Ben, I think it\u2019s probably OK, because I think he is \u2026 it depends on how they legislate it, they might just say, you must have been tax domiciled here for X period of time, in which case Ben is stuffed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orr went on to say: \u201cIt depends what \u2026 test for moving back you apply. So, under the common law, there\u2019s a two-limb test, which is actually quite a \u2013 not a stringent one. It\u2019s a factual thing, a factual matrix test.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much time you spend in England, do you have a house here, can you vote, do you have any bills that you pay, you know, it\u2019s quite kind of, it\u2019s not tax \u2026 So, on that test, Ben meets it, I think. And then the second then is intention. Do you intend to stay, so, evidence that you intend to stay \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |Every weekday<\/p>\n

Sign up to First Edition<\/p>\n

Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Having debated whether Delo would meet the test, Orr said Harborne was \u201cprobably more of a challenge\u201d. The Reform official said he would move back to the UK. \u201cBut, if he does move back, there\u2019s 12 \u2013 he can\u2019t pay \u2013 he can\u2019t do anything for 12 months. And, it looks as if they will bring that in.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his chat with the undercover reporter, Orr also referred to the \u201ccomplicated backstory\u201d of Delo, a British-born billionaire<\/a> who was convicted in the US in 2022 for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business. He was later pardoned by Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Orr refers to \u2018complicated backstory\u2019 of billionaire donor Ben Delo \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Orr also spoke about having spent time on a boat with Ben Delo in the Peloponnese this summer, talking of mixing work and a holiday in Greece, saying: \u201cWe went from Athens down to Ben\u2019s boat in Porto Cheli.\u201d Lawyers for Delo said he did not own a yacht.<\/p>\n

A Reform UK spokesperson said: \u201cWe are 100% confident both [donations] are legal and won\u2019t ever have to be handed back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orr did not respond to a request for comment. He has previously denied wrongdoing in relation to electoral laws on overseas funding and dismissed Verbatim as \u201cpolitically motivated actors trying to discredit a political opponent through dubious legal means\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Harborne described Orr\u2019s comments as private speculation that would not be appropriate to comment on and did not represent established facts. Delo\u2019s lawyers did not respond substantively, saying he would not be drawn into speculation about a conversation he was not party to, or the legal effect of a law yet to be passed. They later added that he had taken extensive legal advice on his donations and had previously set out his rationale for making them.<\/p>\n

Reform has previously said it intends to take legal action against Verbatim and its directors over the undercover filming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A senior Reform UK official raised questions about whether major donations from billionaire backers Christopher Harborne and Ben…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-809102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}