Nigel Farage's Reform UK has received two donations of £36million each within 24 hours, an unprecedented £72million windfall that the party says will fund campaign infrastructure ahead of the next general election. The gifts, from cryptocurrency entrepreneur Ben Delo and long-standing backer Christopher Harborne, take Reform's total fundraising this year to almost £90million, dwarfing the sums raised by the Conservatives and Labour, and come amid speculation that Prime Minister Andy Burnham could call an early election.

Delo, co-founder of the BitMEX crypto exchange, said he wanted to guarantee a "fair fight" against what he called the "entrenched advantages" of Reform's rivals, having already given £4million earlier this year. Harborne, a former Conservative donor who has previously given Reform £15million and is currently under parliamentary standards investigation over an earlier £5million gift to Farage, said he expected nothing in return, "no peerage, no policy change". Reform intends to use the funds to hire campaign managers in target seats, recruit strategists and policy experts, and set up an "attack unit", with party sources saying it can now focus on preparing for government rather than fundraising.