Cat Neelan

Nor did Reform respond to our request for clarification.

But there are a few things we know about that enormous sum.

We know that around £10 million of it came from the man who will go on to define the prospects and trajectory of reform, Christopher Harborne.

He was propelled into the headlines last year when he made the biggest single political donation in British history to reform, £9 million.

He's since topped that up with a further £3 million.

But the truth is, he's been part of the project from the early Brexit party days.

This is Ben Habib again.

Ben Habib is making an important point.

To us mere mortals, the thought of giving away tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds seems enormous.

For the donor class, which includes people like Ben Habib, these figures are small change.

But even amongst the donor class, there are scales of wealth.

And Christopher Harbourn?

He's in a league of his own.

Ben Habib claims that Harbourn was responsible for donating far more during 2019 than has been made public.

What's interesting about Harbourne is, at this point, he doesn't seem to have just been donating money.

The enigmatic billionaire was plugged into the party machine.

One source told The Observer that when they visited the Brexit party offices during the run-up to the European elections in 2019, it seemed like Christopher Harbourne was there full-time.

He had a desk, the source said, where he was working on the algorithms.

Christopher Harborne is a difficult person to get close to.

He doesn't do interviews or make statements.