So Angela Rayner is now telling us that people with billions shouldn’t be able to “buy their way into our democracy” after Reform received £72 MILLION from two crypto billionaires. Okay Angela. Let’s look at what was apparently perfectly acceptable before Reform started winning the fundraising battle. Labour took £4 MILLION from Quadrature Capital, the investment firm. They’ve taken millions from wealthy businessmen like Gary Lubner. Millions from Lord Sainsbury. Millions from Dale Vince and Ecotricity. Millions from trade unions over the years. Rayner was actually challenged about that this morning and said union money was “different”. The Conservatives? £15 MILLION from Frank Hester and his company The Phoenix Partnership. £5 MILLION from billionaire businessman Mohamed Mansour. £1 MILLION from hedge fund founder Alan Howard. Millions over the years from hedge fund figures, JCB interests and some of the wealthiest people in Britain. The Liberal Democrats? Repeated donations from Ferring Pharmaceuticals. Research using Electoral Commission data found pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Lilly, Novartis, Sanofi and Ferring funding British politics over the years, with the Lib Dems receiving the overwhelming majority of pharmaceutical-industry party donations in that study. But here’s my favourite bit. Christopher Harborne, one of the “crypto billionaires” whose money is suddenly causing all this concern about democracy, previously gave the CONSERVATIVE PARTY around £1.5 MILLION in 2022. He then gave another £1 MILLION to Boris Johnson’s private office. Apparently that was fine. So hedge fund money? Fine. Pharmaceutical money? Fine. Billionaire money? Fine. Corporate money? Fine. Union money? “Different.” Even money from the SAME crypto billionaire was apparently acceptable when the Conservatives were receiving it. But two British businessmen give Reform £36 million each and suddenly Westminster discovers that gigantic political donations might be a problem. If you want donation limits, introduce them. Apply them to EVERYONE. What you cannot credibly do is spend decades accepting enormous legal donations under the rules, then suddenly decide those rules are a threat to democracy when somebody else starts beating you at your own game. #AngelaRayner #ReformUK #PoliticalDonations #Labour #UKPolitics