The Reform Party leader Nigel Farage will this week embark on a renewed drive to raise millions of pounds to “professionalise” its operations two months after it won five seats at the general election.
Sky News understands that Mr Farage will attend a fundraising event hosted by Holly Candy, the former Neighbours actress, on Wednesday evening.
The gathering is aimed at broadening Reform’s appeal to potential donors, with a number of prominent businesspeople among those understood to be planning to attend.
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Since Mr Farage took over as party leader, it has attracted 50,000 new members paying a minimum of £25, according to insiders.
Speaking to Sky News, the former UKIP leader said: “Reform is growing fast and rising in the polls but we need to raise real money to professionalise the party.”
“Wednesday night is the first step.”
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Mrs Candy, who is married to the property entrepreneur Nick Candy, hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign in London in June.
The event was said to have raised about $3m for the Republican presidential candidate, and was hailed as the largest such event ever held for the party outside the US.
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Mrs Candy has herself reportedly donated £50,000 to Reform’s coffers.
Reform won a 14.3% share of the vote in July’s election, winning five seats – a ratio which the House of Commons library described as “the most disproportionate [gap between vote share and seat share] in a generation”.