A major donor to Nigel Farage’s political party Reform UK has quickly built up a £150m stake in the Ministry of Defence research spin-off QinetiQ, becoming the third-biggest shareholder in less than a month.
Christopher Harborne, 59, a Thailand-based businessman who has given £13.7m to Reform UK, formerly known as the Brexit Party, has quietly built up a 7.1pc holding in QinetiQ, which makes robots for the military and is developing top-secret laser weapons technology.
Mr Harborne hit the headlines during the 2019 election when it emerged that he has a Thai name, Chakrit Sakunkrit, under which he is listed on Companies House.
The purchase puts him just behind pensions giants Schroders and BlackRock on the shareholders register for QinetiQ, and the largest individual investor by far.
His acquisition comes at a time of increasing scrutiny for would-be investors in arms…
