This investigation from The Guardian reshaped the national conversation around political funding transparency, exposing the hidden millions driving Reform UK and triggering regulatory scrutiny, a Metropolitan Police investigation, and a dramatic parliamentary resignation.
Financial investigations editor Anna Isaac published a string of agenda-setting exclusives in the Guardian on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and the party’s finances. Her painstaking investigation built up a picture of how Reform UK was funded and by whom, with each new detail raising more questions for Farage and the coterie around him.
In April, she reported one of the most consequential political stories in recent years: that the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne had given Farage an undisclosed £5 million donation just weeks before he announced his candidacy in the 2024 UK general election.
Farage refused to answer The Guardian’s questions and attempted to pre-empt the story by leaking details to the Daily Telegraph, describing the donation as a personal gift for security costs. However, the disclosure sparked outrage from opposition parties, a formal referral to Parliament’s standards watchdog, and a Metropolitan Police investigation after bankers flagged transfers between senior Reform figures and donors to the National Crime Agency. Under mounting pressure, Farage ducked press conferences and live interviews for weeks, before resigning his seat and declaring he would run again in Clacton on a “people v the establishment” platform.
Anna, a reporter on the Guardian’s business desk, used her contacts across business and politics to shine a light on the party and its inner circle. These stories have been published in the face of multiple legal threats, accusations of an establishment plot, spoiler tactics and an array of conflicting explanations.
She revealed how, according to financial industry sources, George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster based in Montenegro whom Farage has described as “like a son to me”, transferred a total of more than $2m to his mother Fiona in 2024. Shortly after each of those deposits, Fiona Cottrell made substantial donations to the party. Each story has filled in more details about the funding network behind Reform and highlighted concerns around transparency.
