Published13 September 2026, 00:39 BST
Almost every paper on Sunday leads on a record-breaking double donation of £72m to Reform UK over the weekend. The Daily Mail declares "Nigel hits the jackpot", describing the way the "jubilant" Reform UK leader hailed it as an "investment in democratic renewal". Farage told the paper that the "£72m war chest" would be used to "professionalise" the party.
The donation to Reform UK was courtesy of two cryptocurrency billionaires, according to the Sunday Times, who each gifted the party £36m. The paper calls it an "unprecedented cash injection" for Reform UK, and says the previous highest political donation was £10m, which was left to the Conservative party in a will. The donors, Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, have both said the gift is to help the party prepare for government.
Similarly, the Sunday Express says the "turbocharged war chest" will allow Reform UK to to take on Labour and the Conservatives at the next general election. The paper says the money will be viewed as a "major vote of confidence" in the party at a time when there has been a dip in support.
The double donation brings Reform's total donations for the year to £86m, which the Sunday Telegraph says dwarfs the £10.2m raised by Conservatives and £7.7m by Labour. The paper notes Farage still faces a parliamentary inquiry into the £5m personal gift from Harborne, in addition to a police inquiry into donations from elsewhere.
The Observer characterises the donations as a "£72m plan to buy Britain", and questions whether they break new anti-corruption laws.
The Sunday Mirror says the £72m donation has sparked fears for the future of democracy, with Fair Vote UK campaigner Kyle Taylor describing it as a "dark day indeed".
Television presenter Jeremy Clarkson and partner Lisa Hogan beam on the front page of the Star, with the latter detailing her pride after "Jezza" revealed his prostate cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
The headline of the Sun on Sunday reads: "US spies smuggle paedo out of UK". The paper says the "sneaky move" has sparked "crisis meetings" between Scotland Yard and senior Cabinet ministers.
"Is it worth risking your life for these ops?" asks the Sunday People, leading on a campaign from a grieving father whose daughter died in Turkey after complications from surgery.
Most of the papers feature details of the two huge donations to Reform UK on their front page, including the Sunday Times, external, which says the "unprecedented cash injection" has "stunned politics".
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, external, the second donor, Christopher Harborne, argues that Britain needs to regenerate after more than a decade of decline and says he believes Reform is "the only party" that can deliver economic prosperity. He insists he expects "nothing" in return for his donation which he describes as a "philanthropic gift" to the UK.
Reform's leader, Nigel Farage, has told the Mail on Sunday, external that the donations of Harborne and Ben Delo "help to level a playing field that has always been tilted against any genuine challenge to the two-party duopoly". He stresses the money "will be used for one purpose only" – to ensure Reform is ready to form a government at the next election – adding that it will fund "the best research department British politics has ever seen", meaning policies are properly costed and workable.
Several papers use their leader column to assess the donations.
The Sunday Express, external says the funds have the potential to "transform" the next election race, calling them a "powerful show of support" for Nigel Farage and his party at a time when it faces controversies over funding. The Mail on Sunday suggests the donations "might just have changed the course of British politics for the better". It urges Farage to use the money to professionalise Reform and marginalise the chancers who invariably hang around new political movements.
The Sunday Times urges caution, saying voters will have to wait for the Reform manifesto to find out whether mega-donors can buy influence. But the Observer already appears certain they can, warning that the gifts "are an insult to British democracy" and a "serious challenge to its integrity". The Sunday Mirror, external is also concerned. It says voters need to be reassured that national politics is not for sale to the highest bidder and that Britain's democracy "is not being hawked off to a couple of billionaires who seem to have more money than sense".
Elsewhere, the Sun on Sunday, external reports that American spies have smuggled a paedophile who was working at the US embassy in London out of the UK without informing British police. It says the move has "sparked accusations of a cover-up" and prompted crisis meetings between Scotland Yard and senior ministers. The Metropolitan Police says it is liaising with US authorities about an investigation into suspected offences relating to indecent images of children.
منبع: بی بی سی
