Christopher Harborne

Credentials

MEng Engineering, Cambridge University, 1981-85.¹
MBA, Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires, 1988.²

Background

Christopher Harborne is a British Thailand-based businessman and a major donor to Nigel Farage’s party, Reform UK.³

In 2025, Harborne gave £12 million to Reform, including the largest single donation of any living person in British political history.⁴ Since 2019, he has donated more than £22 million to the party.⁵

Harborne was previously a Conservative Party donor, and gave £1.8 million to the party between 2001 and 2022.⁶ He also gave £1 million to former Conservative leader Boris Johnson’s private office in November 2022, while Johnson was serving as prime minister.⁷

While he has claimed to believe in climate change, Harborne has been a major donor to parties that have pushed an anti-climate agenda.

In 2024, he published a statement stating that he believes climate change presents “a serious threat to the survival of a significant percentage of the human population.”⁸

Yet, Reform’s manifesto for the 2024 general election suggested that climate change was not primarily caused by human activity, stating that it “has happened for millions of years based on multiple factors completely outside human control or influence.”⁹

Harborne was an early investor in bitcoin and Ethereum, the two biggest cryptocurrencies. The latter “now accounts for a major portion of his net worth”, according to documents seen by The Guardian.¹⁰

Harborne also reportedly holds a 12 percent share in the cryptocurrency Tether, which is based in El Salvador.¹¹ Tether is one of the world’s most popular “stablecoins” – a type of digital asset pegged to the U.S. dollar.¹²

Tether says it made profits of $13 billion (£10.2 billion) in 2024.¹³ With only 150 staff, it has been called the most profitable company per employee ever.¹⁴

Despite Farage’s vocal support for cryptocurrencies – including Tether – the Reform leader claims that Harborne wants “absolutely nothing in return at all” for his donations to the party. However, at a press conference on 4 December 2025, the Reform leaderadded that the pair speak “maybe once a month, maybe once every six weeks”.¹⁵

Harborne founded AML Global, an aviation fuel company,¹⁶ was made the chair of private jet company Sheriff Global in July 2025 having founded the company in 2000,¹⁷ and is a major shareholder in QinetiQ, a British defence company.¹⁸

In September 2023, Boris Johnson was accompanied by Harborne on a two-day visit to Ukraine that included meetings with top officials.¹⁹

Born in the UK, he is also known by the Thai name Chakrit Sakunkrit and has taken citizenship in the country, having lived there for more than 20 years.²⁰

After studying at the University of Cambridge and the leading French business school Institut Européen D’Administration des Affaires, he joined McKinsey,²¹ a multinational management consultancy.

In a 2024 defamation claim over a Wall Street Journal story about his involvement with Tether, Harborne’s legal documents said: “He does not proselytise his views, he does not give speeches or media interviews, and he does not maintain active social media accounts.”²²

Stance on climate change

May 17, 2024

In response to a DeSmog story in June 2024 about his donations to Reform, Harborne posted a lengthy statement to the AML Global website explaining his views towards climate science.²³

He said:

“I am not a climate science denier and… I do not seek to influence any government through donations or lobbying regarding their policies on climate change or in favour of corporate interests.”

He added: “there is overwhelming scientific evidence that human activity and in particular the use of hydrocarbons as an energy source is accelerating climate warming due to the greenhouse effect.”

“The impact of this will drive accelerated migration of many flora and fauna species in search of new places to live and the extinction of many species which fail to migrate or adapt. Humans will not be exempt from this. Although we do have extraordinary capabilities and resources to counter it or adapt if we choose to use them.”

“Catastrophic climate change impact represents a serious threat to the survival of a significant percentage of the human population.”

Key Actions

2025

Harborne donated £12 million to Reform UK over the course of 2025.

In the last quarter of 2025, he donated £3 million to the party.²⁴ This followed a donation of £9 million to Reform UK in August, the largest single donation from a living person in British political history.²⁵

2022

Harborne donated £1,515,000 to the Conservative Party throughout the year, £1,015,000 of which was given during Boris Johnson’s tenure as leader and prime minister.²⁶

In November 2022, Harborne donated £1 million to The Office of Boris Johnson Ltd, one of the biggest donations ever made to an individual British politician.²⁷

He also donated £465,000 to the Brexit Party – Nigel Farage’s political party which was renamed Reform UK in 2021 – over six donations.²⁸

2018-2020

Harborne donated £10.2 million to the Brexit Party over 18 separate donations,²⁹ and £112,500 to the Conservative Party.³⁰

2006

Harborne founded aviation fuel company AML Global.³¹

Affiliations

The Conservative Party – historically a major donor to the party, having given over £1.6 million since 2018.³²
Reform UK – largest donor in the party’s history at over £22 million since 2019.³³ At a press conference on 4 December 2025, the Reform leader said that he speaks with Harborne “maybe once a month, maybe once every six weeks”.³⁴

Other Resources

“Christopher Harborne,” Wikipedia profile

Resources

1
“Christpher Harborne,” Linkedin. Accessed April 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
2
“Christpher Harborne,” Linkedin. Accessed April 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
3
Anna Isaac. “Crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne no longer interested in Reform-Tory pact,” The Guardian, March 6, 2026. Archived March 14, 2026. Archive .pdf on file at DeSmog.
4
Becky Morton. “Crypto investor donates record £9m to Reform UK,” BBC News, December 4, 2025. Archived December 4, 2025. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
5
“Christopher Harborne,” DonationWatch. Archived March 8, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
6
“Christopher Harborne,” DonationWatch. Archived March 8, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
7
“Christopher Harborne,” DonationWatch. Archived March 8, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
8
Christopher Harborne. “Personal Statement from the owner of AML Global regarding Climate Change and mitigation,” AML Global, May 17, 2024. Archived February 7, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
9
“Reform is Essential,” Reform UK. Archived September 25, 2023. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
10
Rowena Mason and Tom Burgis. “Christopher Harborne, the ‘intensely private’ mega-donor bankrolling Reform UK,” The Guardian, December 4, 2025. Archived March 24, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
11
Rowena Mason and Tom Burgis. “Christopher Harborne, the ‘intensely private’ mega-donor bankrolling Reform UK,” The Guardian, December 4, 2025. Archived March 24, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
12
“What are stablecoins and how do they work?,” The Bank of England, accessed April 17, 2026. Archived March 30, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
13
“Tether Hits $13 Billion Profits for 2024 And All-Time Highs in U.S. Treasury Holdings, USD₮ Circulation, and Reserve Buffer in Q4 2024 Attestation,” Tether, January 31, 2025. Archived February 24, 2025. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
14
Oliver Bullough. “How Tether became money-launderers’ dream currency,” The Economist, July 4, 2025. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
15
Andrew Sparrow. “Farage criticises BBC over racism allegations and claims one fellow pupil said he was ‘offensive’ but not racist – as it happened,” The Guardian, December 4, 2025. Archived March 5, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
16
Anna Isaac. “Crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne no longer interested in Reform-Tory pact,” The Guardian, March 6, 2026. Archived March 14, 2026. Archive .pdf on file at DeSmog.
17
“Christpher Harborne,” Linkedin. Accessed April 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
18
Anna Isaac. “Crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne no longer interested in Reform-Tory pact,” The Guardian, March 6, 2026. Archived March 14, 2026. Archive .pdf on file at DeSmog.
19
Tom Burgis. “The £1m man: why did Boris Johnson take his donor to Ukraine?,” The Guardian, October 10, 2025. Archived April 5, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
20
Anna Isaac. “Crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne no longer interested in Reform-Tory pact,” The Guardian, March 6, 2026. Archived March 14, 2026. Archive .pdf on file at DeSmog.
21
“Christpher Harborne,” Linkedin. Accessed April 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
22
Anna Isaac. “Crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne no longer interested in Reform-Tory pact,” The Guardian, March 6, 2026. Archived March 14, 2026. Archive .pdf on file at DeSmog.
23
Christopher Harborne. “Personal Statement from the owner of AML Global regarding Climate Change and mitigation,” AML Global, May 17, 2024. Archived February 7, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
24
Rowena Mason. “Crypto investor based in Thailand donates further £3m to Reform,” The Guardian, March 5, 2026. Archived March 24, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
25
Becky Morton. “Crypto investor donates record £9m to Reform UK,” BBC News, December 4, 2025. Archived December 4, 2025. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
26
“Christopher Harborne,” DonationWatch. Archived March 8, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
27
“Boris Johnson’s office receives £1m donation from crypto investor,” BBC News, January 12, 2023. Archived April 4, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
28
“Christopher Harborne,” DonationWatch. Archived March 8, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
29
“Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party officially changes its name,” BBC News, January 6, 2021. Archived October 1, 2025. Archive .pdf on file at DeSmog.
30
“Christopher Harborne,” DonationWatch. Archived March 8, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
31
“Christpher Harborne,” Linkedin. Accessed April 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog
32
“Christopher Harborne,” DonationWatch. Archived March 8, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
33
“Christopher Harborne,” DonationWatch. Archived March 8, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
34
Andrew Sparrow. “Farage criticises BBC over racism allegations and claims one fellow pupil said he was ‘offensive’ but not racist – as it happened,” The Guardian, December 4, 2025. Archived March 5, 2026. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

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