A New York Times analysis of campaign finance data shows an influx of funding to Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform U.K. party from fossil fuel investors, climate skeptics and multimillionaires.

By Jane BradleyJosh Holder and Jeremy Singer-Vine

Jane Bradley and Josh Holder reported from London, and Jeremy Singer-Vine from New York.

Nigel Farage’s insurgent Reform U.K. party has attracted more than a dozen donors from Britain’s once-dominant Conservative Party, new data reveals, underlining the threat the Tories face from a right-wing populist party that models itself on President Trump’s MAGA movement.

In total, Reform U.K. raised 4.75 million pounds ($6.1 million) last year, a third of which came from former donors to the Conservatives. The amount is a sharp increase from the less than $200,000 it raised in 2023 and a striking figure for a party that eight months ago was on the fringe of national politics.

The New York Times analyzed the donations that Reform U.K. reported to Britain’s campaign finance watchdog in 2024, including figures for the final quarter of the year that were released on Thursday, to get the first major snapshot of who is funding the party.

While it is unsurprising that many political donors are wealthy, a remarkable number of Reform’s millionaire donors used to be Conservatives, the establishment Mr. Farage and his party have long rallied against. While Labour does have wealthy individual donors too, the majority of its funding comes from union donations.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  your Times account, or  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Want all of The Times? .

Source: www.nytimes.com