Brexit boss Nigel Farage said that Elon Musk is giving “serious thought” to making a donation to his Reform UK party in Britain following a meeting with the world’s richest man at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Tuesday.
Rumours emerged last month that Musk was considering a $100 million donation to Farage’s populist party in a bid to help Reform take down the governing Labour Party of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, whom Musk has become a chief critic of over his leftist agenda, including jailing people for posts on social media and the planned tax raid on farmers.
Commenting on the prospect of a large donation from Musk, Farage told The Times of London: “Money was discussed. We are in negotiations about whether he can help. He is fully behind this. He is motivated enough by what’s going on in Britain to give serious thought to giving money.
“Our primary goal was to discuss what he did in the ground campaign. There is no doubt his influence made a huge difference [during the US election]. I learnt a lot about voter registration.”
Mr Farage was joined at the Mar-a-Lago meeting with Musk by his recently appointed party treasurer Nick Candy. A billionaire property developer, Candy is just the latest defection from the so-called Conservative Party, having previously been a major donor to the party.
Candy has said that he will personally donate one million pounds sterling to Reform and will serve as a chief fundraiser for the party. However, Candy said that one of the key aims of the meeting with Musk was to learn about the “Trump ground game” and how it could be deployed by Reform in British elections.
Following the meeting, Farage posted a picture of Candy, Musk, and himself at Mar-a-Lago on X, with the caption: ““Britain needs Reform”. To which, Mr Musk replied: “Absolutely.”
Despite not being a British citizen, under current law, Mr Musk could conceivably donate large sums of money to Reform through the British branches of his businesses X or Tesla.
However, apparently spooked by the prospect of Musk’s intervention into British politics, the leftist Labour Party government is reportedly considering changing political donation laws to block the X chief from backing Farage.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “We are considering changes that will help protect our system from foreign interference, such as tighter controls on donations.”
The potential financial boost from Musk comes as Farage’s party continues to rise in the polls, with a survey from Find Out Now this month putting Reform ahead of Labour for the first time.
Meanwhile, leading British bookmaker Ladbrokes said last week that the Brexit boss now leads betting odds to become the next prime minister of the country.