Reform UK’s Richard Tice left floundering over key questions on two £36million donationsReform UK’s deputy leader was unable to say when two super-rich donors returned to the UK
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Nicholas Cecil, Chief Reporter @nicholascecil2 minutes ago
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Reform UK’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice faced a string of questions on Monday over two £36 million donations to the party.
He struggled to answer key questions about when two super-donors to the party returned to Britain.
Mr Tice stressed that the donations from Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo were within the law.
But the Government was pressing ahead with retrospective legislation which could deprive Nigel Farage’s party of the huge sums.
christopher harborne and nigel farageGetty
In relation to crypto-billionaire Mr Harborne, who has links with Thailand, Mr Tice was asked on BBC radio when he moved to the UK and whether he pay UK taxes on foreign earnings as a result of being here.
The senior Reform MP responded: “Well, I’m not his tax adviser, so I don’t know all of his tax details, of course, but he’s a highly successful entrepreneur who would invest in the UK.”
Pressed again when Mr Harborne moved to Britain, Mr Tice said: “I’m not familiar with every day of every week that these individuals spend in the country, we just know that they have complied with the rules and regulations, both existing and proposed.”
Asked on Times Radio, if he knew when either Mr Harborne or Mr Delo moved to the UK, which could affect whether their donations are banned under retrospective legislation, Mr Tice replied: “I know they’ve complied.
“That’s what our compliance team and lawyers have checked.”
Ben Delo and Nigel FarageGetty Images/PA
However, Reform is facing searching questions and a police probe after an undercover sting by journalists appeared to suggest the party was willing to accept hundreds of millions of pounds from a foreign donor.
Mr Tice was also challenged over Mr Farage and him raising the issue of crypto-currency with the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey.
He insisted there was not a link between the BoE meeting, which he said happened around a year ago, and the two £36 million donations as they had been made more recently.
Peers on Monday were due to debate calls for a cap on donations and a £100,000 limit on payments from overseas electors.
Campaigners have said the £72 million gifts demonstrate the need for a cap on political donations, and Spotlight on Corruption said the situation “creates risks that the game will be rigged in favour of those with the most cash”.
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Proposals for a cap are likely to feature heavily in the House of Lords, which will debate the Government’s Representation of the People Bill on Monday.
The Bill already contains measures limiting donations from overseas electors to £100,000 a year, but attempts by MPs to impose a general cap failed after the Government promised to task officials with investigating how a measure would work.
Communities Secretary Angela RaynerPA Wire
On Sunday, Communities Secretary Angela Rayner suggested a cap was still on the table, telling the BBC she wanted to stop people “being able to overpower and buy their way into democracy”.
The Liberal Democrats are likely to push for a cap, having called for “emergency legislation” to impose one and saying the donations exposed “a dangerous flaw in our democratic system”.
Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, has suggested donations from trade unions should be exempt from any cap, saying were “not the same as two crypto millionaires waking up and giving £72 million”.
Robert Jenrick, the party’s economic spokesman, said on Sunday the donations were “entirely in line with the law as it is, and as far as we know, the law as it’s going to be in the future”.
But Ms Rayner appeared to suggest they could be covered by the cap on overseas donors, which will be backdated to March 25.
The rules, which limit donations from overseas electors to £100,000 per year, were proposed in a review by former civil servant Philip Rycroft aimed at countering foreign influence in UK politics.
They also apply to donations made in the first year that someone moves back to the UK.
Mr Delo has been based in Hong Kong but said in April he would return to the UK to avoid restrictions on overseas donors, and Mr Harborne is based in Thailand.
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