On May 28, 2026, investigative journalist Cat Neelan launched a major joint investigation with The Rest Is Politics and The Observer exposing the murky finances behind Reform UK. On the podcast, co-host Rory Stewart praised her work, noting that the series was “put together by Cat Neelan, who's The Observer's Whitehall editor.”
Stepping in front of the microphone, Cat Neelan laid out the stark, unexplained gaps in the Brexit Party's financial history. She revealed that “the number they're looking at is a single number in the donations column. It's seventeen point two million pounds,” with “no information about who the money came from or what it was spent on.”
While Rory Stewart acknowledged that many people already know of the five million pound contribution Nigel Farage received from crypto billionaire Chris Harbourne, he argued that the true story of Reform UK's funding goes far deeper than a single donor.
With more episodes of the investigative series on the way, Cat Neelan's reporting is poised to force a difficult public reckoning for Reform UK over where their money actually comes from.