Who is Christopher Harborne? What is his net worth - as Nigel Farage's Reform UK receives record £9m donation from businessman
British businessman Christopher Harborne has donated a record-busting £9million to Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
The 62-year-old, who also holds Thai citizenship, made the donation in August, pushing Reform UK's fundraising ahead of both Labour and the Tories. The sum is also the biggest single donation made by a living donor to a UK political party.
Mr Harborne had been known as a Tory donor since 2001. He is one of the biggest individual donors in British politics, and among the most secretive.
He was named as Boris Johnson’s biggest financial backer, having given the ex-prime minister £1m – the largest single donation ever made to an MP. Electoral Commission records show he has donated more than £15m to British political parties, including over £1m to the Tories in 2022.
Most of this money went to the Brexit Party, which was established in January 2019 to campaign for a hard or no-deal Brexit (the party rebranded as Reform UK in November 2020). In 2019 and 2020, Harborne gave the party £13.7m, becoming the main source of funding for one of the fastest-moving and most effective start-ups in British political history.
Born in 1962, Harborne keeps an extremely low public profile, yet his influence stretches across some of the most powerful sectors in the world. Christopher Charles Sherriff Harborne was educated at Westminster School, one of Britain’s most prestigious institutions. He later earned an MEng and MA from Cambridge University (Downing College) and completed his MBA at INSEAD in 1988. His academic background laid a strong foundation for his global business ventures.
He made his mark in the aviation industry through AML Global Ltd, a jet fuel supply firm that services over 1,200 locations worldwide. His company has secured major U.S. government contracts, positioning it as a leader in the AML Global aviation fuel sector. As the Sherriff Global Group CEO, Harborne oversees operations ranging from fuel logistics to private aircraft sales.
In addition to aviation, Harborne expanded into financial services. AML Global Payments facilitates secure, cross-border financial transactions, reflecting his commitment to high-value global trade. Harborne is also the founder of Singular AI Consulting, a tech firm focusing on artificial intelligence solutions. He holds shares in Innovative Solutions and Support Inc, further proving his diversified investment strategy.
Harborne is considered a visionary in the crypto space, having invested in Bitcoin since 2011 and Ethereum since 2014. He is a major Tether shareholder and has significant stakes in Bitfinex, which are among the top global crypto platforms. According to GuruFocus, his net worth at the moment is at least $16 Million dollars