‘The Guardian’: The £1m man – why did Boris Johnson take his donor to Ukraine?

Christopher Harborne donated £1m to a private company Boris Johnson set up after resigning as prime minister.
Pic.: ‘The Guardian’ Design

Exclusive from ‘The Guardian’: Leaked files offer a glimpse of the ex-prime minister’s relationship with Christopher Harborne.

As he boarded the night train to Ukraine, Boris Johnson had the usual entourage of aides and bodyguards – plus the man who had given him £1m.

Less than a year had passed since Johnson accepted what is thought to be the largest donation ever to an individual MP. It was from Christopher Harborne, one of the UK’s biggest and most private political donors.

Harborne, whose millions helped bankroll Brexit, made the payment to a private company Johnson set up after resigning as prime minister. Now leaked files show that Johnson, a champion of Ukraine in office and since, was accompanied in September 2023 by his benefactor on a two-day visit that included meetings with top officials.

What the files do not explain is why. And neither the former prime minister nor his backer will say.

The organisers of the high-level gathering they attended in Kyiv say Harborne was registered as “adviser, Office of Boris Johnson”.

Harborne has wide expertise: a self-described “digital nomad”, his holdings range from cryptocurrency and a wellness centre to jet fuel and stakes in at least three military contractors. His only apparent connection to Ukraine is as the biggest shareholder in a British weapons manufacturer whose robots and drones are reportedly supplied to its armed forces.

The Ukrainian cause is “sacred” to Johnson

The Ukrainian cause is “sacred” to Johnson, one political consultant says, an enduring source of moral authority for a politician who was forced out of Downing Street amid scandal.

The leaked files raise questions about whether, even here, he has blurred the lines between public service and money-making.

When he disembarked from the night train in Kyiv on 8 September 2023, Johnson had time for a quick shower at his hotel before heading for the Yalta European Strategy (YES) forum, an itinerary in the leaked files indicates. According to a published list of participants, Ukrainian ministers, spymasters and military chiefs mingled with foreign diplomats, politicians, industrialists and executives.

The itinerary has “Boris and Chris [Harborne] only” down to attend the opening session of the high-level gathering. Images show Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Johnson addressed the gathered luminaries and the itinerary suggests they then retired for a private meeting. Zelenskyy’s office did not respond when asked if Johnson’s benefactor joined them.

Afterwards, Zelenskyy posted a picture of himself with Johnson. “From the first hours of the full-scale war, Boris Johnson sincerely supports Ukraine and helps defend,” Zelenskyy wrote.

Boris Johnson (centre) meeting Lviv’s mayor (1st to his left) in September 2023 with Christopher Harborne (2nd to his right).
Photo: City of Lviv

The £1m donation for the “sacred” cause

While Johnson was still an MP he set up a private company, The Office of Boris Johnson Ltd. The financial advice reveals that he was expecting a “payment to fund the company’s first few years”. He was advised to consider whether this would represent a political donation or if it “might be simpler for the company to invoice the donor’s company for services”.

The following month, in November 2022, Johnson’s entry in the register of MPs’ interests records a £1m donation to his company from Harborne. The payment does not appear on the Electoral Commission’s donation database of money “given towards the recipient’s political activities” as an MP. This appears to suggest it may have been a contribution towards Johnson’s money-making activities.

The month of the £1m payment, Johnson and Harborne dined together twice in Singapore. A January 2023 entry in Johnson’s schedule set aside half an hour for a call with his backer. It was labelled “Ukraine readout”.

Harborne’s lawyers said: “Mr Harborne’s donation was given to enable Mr Johnson to stay actively engaged in mainstream UK politics. It is and was a donation, and its reporting as such is appropriate.”

The letter

Harborne’s lawyers did not give substantive answers to questions about why he went on the trip to Ukraine, beyond saying they “appear to have little to no basis in reality”. But there are possible clues in the leaked files.

The itinerary features a “closed meeting at the military-tech R&D centre”. It does not say whether Harborne attended, but this is an area he knows well. While his position as the largest shareholder in QinetiQ, with 13%, does not give him a role in the day-to-day running of the privatised research unit of the UK armed forces, his financial stake in its operations is significant.

QinetiQ has interests in Ukraine, albeit not its biggest. Ukraine’s forces reportedly use the company’s Banshee drones and bomb-disposal robots. In April 2025, the UK Ministry of Defence announced QinetiQ would help Ukraine’s military make kit with 3D printers.

Johnson refers to the trip in one of the Boris Files’ more mysterious documents. Dated 23 October 2023, the month after the visit, it is a letter carrying his signature. “I write in support of Christopher Harborne,” Johnson writes. “He is both a friend and a supporter of my office… He came with me on a recent trip to Ukraine.”

The lawyers would not say who the letter, addressed only to “Dear Sirs”, was written for.

…This information in the British press can be perceived as an attempt to find someone in London to blame for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Britain's internal instability due to the migration problem; low approval ratings of the Labor Party in power; difficulties in forming a normal budget – Labor can no longer formulate its financial policy without cutting social spending; the growing popularity of Farage's Reform Party... And all the difficulties happen against the backdrop of the British government's enormous expenditures supporting the Kyiv regime.

So, what is more important to the British themselves – a ‘kiss-mania’ with Zelensky or solving their own complex problems?

Former Prime Minister Johnson has already been publicly accused of persuading the Kyiv authorities to continue the war, which is becoming increasingly costly for Britain. Now they want to better understand was the £1m payment connected with this while QinetiQ has interests in Ukraine? What do you think about it?

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