When news of Reform UK's two record-breaking £36m donations emerged this weekend, it felt as if Nigel Farage's inner circle was attempting a fightback. The last few months have proved difficult for the party, with a dip in the polls, a spike in infighting and a series of questions about money that simply won't go away. In contrast, the mood within the ranks of Labour and the Conservatives has been fairly chipper.
Most Labour MPs feel Andy Burnham has got off to an impressive start as prime minister, while many Conservatives are feeling confident about Kemi Badenoch's recent reshuffle of her top team. But Reform has been quietly - and as of this weekend rather loudly - building a formidable war chest. Even before these two mega donations, Reform had raised £30.5m since the start of the year, more than double their nearest rivals.
This extra £72m takes them into uncharted financial territory, which the party says will be used to hire the brightest policy minds, as well as up to 400 campaign managers in every target seat around the country. In a world of fractured politics, when seats can be won on increasingly smaller percentages of the vote, having a ground campaign that is effective at getting out the core voter base could become increasingly important. Some in Westminster have been less than convinced by Burnham's insistence that he won't call an early general election.
It might be tempting for the prime minister to go to the polls before Farage has had time to splash the cash on a shiny new party machine. Some Labour MPs think that could factor into his thinking, but one Number 10 source insisted Reform's extra cash does not make an early election any more likely. Burnham is now likely to come under increasing pressure to further change the rules on party donations.
Labour is already planning to introduce a cap on the amount of money a British citizen living overseas can donate. There has been much talk about whether that could impact the donations to Reform by cryptocurrency billionaires Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, but when interviewed by the BBC, Angela Rayner refused to say whether the two would be caught up in the rule changes. The Liberal Democrats and Greens have also called for a cap for people based in Britain too, to prevent future mega donations.
Burnham has indicated that he's open to having that conversation, but chose not to support an effort by some Labour MPs earlier this month to tighten the rules. Rayner confirmed this morning that it was still something being considered by ministers. The Electoral Commission is looking at what more should be done in this area and the calls from within Labour for further change will now grow stronger.
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