AIBU to question why crypto investors are heavily funding Reform?

Because they expect to get something back.

But their policies have been shaped for 35 years by Nigel Farage, and 2 votes don"t get him into power?

It was in Reforms own draft legislation - Crypt* assets and Finance Bill published in May.

Is this not how Labour accrue votes dish out millions and expect votes in return?

All your points are rather subjective and in my view stretching it far too much. Its a shame you ruined the start of your original post re C with it. That's all I'm saying. No need to start trying to find parallels with the usual suspects.

You absolutely cannot compare union support, which is made up of small donations from ordinary working people, with such large donations from private individuals with no checks or scrutiny whose massive personal wealth inevitably puts them apart from the experiences and interests of most of society.

I think it’s because they’re genuinely altruistic individuals who care deeply about the good of our nation and the importance of providing a fair democratic playing field In which a young upstart party can genuinely challenge the status quo for the good of everyone.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

That money will be mismanaged to £0 in 6 months. He won the lottery and he will lose it because he lacks business and political acumen.

But the point is, what exactly Reform has promised those individuals, if and when they’re in power, in order to get that amount of money from them?

I do think it’s a double edged sword for Reform though: that money may power their electoral machine, but it makes them look even shadier than they already do. Any pretence that they are anything other than the party of super rich old-fashioned elites, exploiting working class concerns for their own ends, seems to be slipping away.

No. It just means the billionaires buy influence and it's toxic. The left gets donations too I hear you say? Yes, and I think that whole system should be entirely scrapped. And that includes trade unions too. No political donations from wealthy individuals or lobbyists.

Thats rubbish. They are mainly interested in limiting immigration and illegal immigration which will benefit the majority of us.. Big business benefits from large numbers of low wage immigrants.

I don't support Reform, being a Conservative, but the extreme way people speak about them on here is ridiculous. They aren't a fascist party only hoping to benefit a few.billiinaires. Danny Kruger, for example while you may not agree with him, is a decent and intelligent MP. Lee Anderson is not a proto facist. Hes mainstream centre right.

Id agree with you although that would give the established parties an advantage that any new party would be unable to overcome.

This is really nothing new.
Dark money has been funding UK political parties for decades, all of them. . They are all corrupt career politicians.

I didn’t call Reform a proto-fascist party, so, please don’t put words in my mouth. The simple fact is, you can’t claim to be an 'anti-establishment' insurgency of the ordinary man when your entire electoral machine is bankrolled by hyper-wealthy offshore investors who explicitly stand to gain from Reform's pledges to deregulate finance and crypto. In my opinion, Reform largely use immigration as a lightning rod to sew division amongst the working classes - to the benefit of the wealthy elites they’re bankrolled by.

My reply was hidden because I accidentally used the C - word 🫣😆
I do think it says something about the dodgy dealings of these C-word bros when we can’t even mention the currency without it being mistaken for spam!!

Essentially, I said firstly - I didn’t call Reform a fascist party, so please don’t put words in my mouth. Secondly, I actually think Reform largely use immigration as a lighting rod to sew division and discontent amongst the working classes - to the benefit of their wealthy donors. You simply cannot paint yourselves as an insurgent, anti establishment party, with working people’s best interests at heart, while taking huge sums of money from super rich elites. I actually think Farage has given up on the idea of winning power and just wants to make as much money as he can, while he can.

Correct. Nigel makes sure to look after himself first and foremost.

But Reform are right on immigration? There's too much and it has undermined British workers. Plus we are heading for higher and higher unemployment so don't need to import more people to put on benefits. Reform aren't just using cutting immigration as a policy to wind up the working class. It's a mainstream policy now for other parties (thanks to Reform).

They've got a couple of wealthy donors. Plus ca change. All parties have wealthy donors. What about Dale Vince? Why is Lord Sainsbury allowed to donate to Labour, but if Reform have millionaire donors its outrageous?

There's so much in politics I can get wound up by but this is not one of those issues.

My reply has been deleted for some reason.
But what I think I said is , as others are saying, these donations (.if that's what you want to call them), are likely rewards for their vested interest.

If your main donors are cro entrepreneurs, it's not that surprising Reform are advocating for tax cuts for cro assets. Follow the trail and you'll find Nigel's paymasters..

A million people giving £1 each, have much less sway (and access to party leadership), than one person giving a million.

The type giving to Reform want less taxation, less regulation, and more money for themselves. They are much more in support of open trade and open borders because it’s more profitable. They don’t give a tut about immigration, they want us back to pre-welfare state days.

The trade union barons have huge influence over Labour policy. And are clearly very good at getting huge pay rises for their members. Payrises the country can't afford. Special interests influencing government policy. One would hope the c word influence may be more financially beneficial for the country. Or at least not be a drain on taxpayers.

Your line about Reform supporters wanting open borders does suggest you may have missed something fundamental....

Maybe they’ve done a deal with them to enable data centre building or incentivise tech business set up by giving tax breaks or similar.

Firstly, on immigration, I’d say what Reform has done is massively oversimplify a legitimate, nuanced debate. Of course there’s a discussion to be had on immigration, but not the toxic, black and white shouting match Reform have poisoned our political discourse with.

Secondly, Dale Vince and Lord Sainsbury - and other donors- have made their money in established, regulated areas of the economy. That’s very different to the C-money flooding in.

And thirdly, wasn’t Reform’s whole pitch that they were different to the old, establishment parties? This shows they’re at best the same, old.

If I was a centre-right Conservative supporter I’d be furious at Reform for splitting the right and dragging our political discourse into the gutter.