Allies of the disgraced Conservative-in-name-only party are reportedly concerned that Elon Musk may bankroll Nigel Farage’s insurgent populist Reform UK party to the tune of $100 million.
According to a report from the London-based Sunday Times, “leading businessmen and Conservative Party officials” are under the belief that Tesla chief Elon Musk may seek to upend the British political landscape by pouring in money to Reform UK, the upstart party of Brexit leader and Donald Trump ally Nigel Farage.
The report claimed that Tory insiders believe that the world’s richest man may put up to $100 million (£78 million) of his money behind Farage as a “f*** you Starmer payment”.
Since Labour came into power in July, Mr Musk has been deeply critical of the administration of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, particularly on issues such as free speech and mass migration.
Responding to a post on X reporting of the defection of former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns to the Farage party, while predicting that Reform UK would win the next general election, the Tesla tycoon wrote: “Yes”.
The Sunday Times noted that in order to avoid rules surrounding foreign political donations, Musk may use the British branch of his X social media company to direct the funds to Farage.
Since taking over the former Twitter, Musk has been frequently at odds with the British state, which under the previous Tory government passed legislation empowering regulators to impose heavy fines on social media companies if they fail to enact the desired level of censorship on their platforms.
Most recently, politicians and legacy media figures in Britain accused X of contributing to the anti-mass migration protests and riots over the summer following the Southport stabbing spree which left three young girls dead at the alleged hands of a second-generation Rwandan migrant with reported terror sympathies.
In response to the Labour government’s harsh crackdown on the riots during which Starmer enacted an early release scheme to free up prison space to jail those involved in the unrest, including against those not directly involved in physical violence, Musk quipped: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted paedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts.”
While Musk financially backing Farage’s Reform party would represent a clear political threat to the Labour government, it would potentially serve as a greater threat to the floundering Conservative Party, which was chucked out of office in July after imposing record levels of immigration, high taxes, and speech restrictions on the nation.
The Reform UK boss said that he was unaware of any plans for Musk to donate to his party, however, he did tell the Times: “All I can say is that I’m in touch with him and he is very supportive of my policy positions.
“We both share a friendship with Donald Trump and Trump has said good things about me in front of Musk. We’ve got a good relationship with him.”
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