Shysters’ Millions

At the end of last week, Reform received two donations of £36 million each from two notorious crypto billionaires, prompting calls to shut the door on the stable labelled “British Democracy” and much hand-wringing about Farage out-spending every other party. But if Zohran Mamdani’s victory taught us anything, it’s that spending big in elections (by his desperate opponents, in his case) doesn’t guarantee a win. Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne must each have more than £36 million left, but that doesn’t mean anyone would vote for them. Millions of Britons would vote for Mr Blobby before they’d vote for Farage, however much he’s got. Seventy-two million is, what, two quid each for direct mailing every UK voter in 2029? A glossy poster of Nigel and a Reform wall calendar that can go straight into recycling? Might as well set £72 million on fire in a field.