Top Tory Donor Backs Farage’s Reform Party with £1 Million Donation

In a significant blow to the beleaguered Conservative Party of Kemi Badenoch, one of the party’s top donors has defected to Nigel Farage and has pledged £1 million to Reform UK.

British-based, Lebanese heritage tech billionaire Bassim Haidar revealed over the weekend that he will put his considerable financial weight and influence to work for the Reform party of Nigel Farage, whom he said is the best man to “bring this country back to glory”.

After having donated over £700,000 to the Tories under failed PM Rishi Sunak, Haidar tore up his membership to the party earlier this year and has now pledged £1 million to Farage, including £200,000 before this week’s local elections, likely the largest donation to any party during the cycle, The Telegraph reported.

Speaking to the broadsheet, the top donor said: “I’ve always been pro-business and I always supported parties that supported businesses. The Conservative Party stopped listening and, for me, I had to go with the party that I believe can actually reset and change the status quo in the UK.

“Nigel and Reform are the only ones that can do this and that’s why I’m supporting them. If we want a better future, we have to stop funding the past.”

The billionaire, who has lived in the UK since 2010, broke with the Tories over their adoption of leftist plans to eliminate the non-dom status, which prevents the government from taxing the overseas income of some British residents.

Haidar, like other wealthy individuals in Britain, has said that he plans to leave the country over the left-wing Labour government’s inheritance tax hikes. A report from New World Wealth last month found that London dropped out of the top-five richest cities in the world as some 11,300 millionaires fled the city over the past year.

The defection of Haidar to Reform may signal a broader shift in British politics, with the Farage-led party seeking to entrench itself as the true opposition party to the governing Labour Party by leapfrogging the Conservatives, which have continued to stagnate in the polls as voters apparently have lost faith in them to deliver on key issues like migration and the economy after 14 years of failed Tory rule.

The defection could also portend a shift among the donor class, with Haidar suggesting that he has “a few friends” who are “seriously” considering donating to Reform as well.

Commenting on Haidar’s donation, Nigel Farage said: “Reform has achieved a huge amount on a small budget so far. With a donation like this, we can rapidly build out our team and professionalise further as we head towards the next general election. This is especially true if others follow Bassim’s lead.”

Despite her attempts to downplay the importance of Haidar’s defection, it will likely serve to erode confidence in the recently installed Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, who is set to suffer a significant blow during this week’s local council elections in England. According to a Conservative pollster, Badenoch faces losing over 500 out of the 900 seats the party is attempting to defend on Thursday.

Since taking over the party in November, Badenoch has been unable to turn around public perception of the traditional party of government and has continued to face challenges from figures such as Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, who has called for the party to take a harder line on issues like immigration.

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