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Nigel Farage said on Tuesday that Elon Musk was giving “serious thought” to providing a donation to his Reform UK party, as it seeks to bolster ties with president-elect Donald Trump.
Farage had a one-hour meeting with the technology billionaire and Reform UK’s new treasurer Nick Candy at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Monday, the party said in a statement.
“Money was discussed. We are in negotiations about whether he can help,” Farage said. “He is motivated enough by what’s going on in Britain to give serious thought to giving money.”
Musk is set to co-lead a new so-called Department of Government Efficiency and appears to have become deeply involved in Trump’s transition team, holding meetings with world leaders.
Former minister Peter Mandelson, who is in the running to become the next ambassador to the US, has previously urged the UK to use Farage to foster closer ties with Musk, in the face of the billionaire’s criticisms of Sir Keir Starmer’s government and concerns the X boss could undermine official diplomatic channels between the two nations.
Musk, who also leads Tesla and SpaceX, denied a report earlier this month that he was preparing to give a $100mn donation to Farage’s party, though the meeting came after Candy promised to turbo-charge the organisation’s fundraising operations.
Farage is trying to transform his political start-up — which won five seats in July’s general election — into a credible vehicle for power by building a ground campaign in areas where the party already has significant support.
These include swaths of northern and eastern England, as well as Wales. The party came second in 98 seats at the UK election, of which 89 were won by Labour.
The party now has more than 100,000 members, but bringing in more money from donors will be crucial to bolstering its electoral chances.
“We learned a great deal about the Trump ground game and will have ongoing discussions on other areas,” Farage and Candy said in a joint statement. “We only have one more chance left to save the west and we can do great things together.”
Candy, a former Tory donor, announced he was joining the party as treasurer last week, and vowed to give at least £1mn of his own money to Reform and raise “tens of millions” more.
When Farage posted on X earlier this month that the party was “building a winning team to change British politics forever”, Musk responded: “When is the first electoral opportunity?”
Farage is hoping Reform will make significant inroads at local elections in May when he believes it will be able to win several hundred council seats and at least one mayoralty.
The party has been buoyed in recent weeks by several high-profile defections from the Conservative party, including former Tory MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns who will run to become mayor of Greater Lincolnshire; Tim Montgomerie, founder of the Conservative Home website; and Rael Braverman, the husband of former home secretary and sitting Tory MP Suella Braverman.
Farage met Musk for the first time in October when he was introduced by Trump, and told the Financial Times that he was impressed by the Tesla chief’s “incredible knowledge” about the UK, “even on farmers and inheritance tax”.
Elon Musk has been approached for comment.
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