Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
Get our free View from Westminster email
Elon Musk has suggested that Reform UK needs to replace Nigel Farage with a new leader.
The Tesla tycoon said Mr Farage, who founded the party and is credited with its recent surge in the polls, “does not have what it takes”.
His call for change comes as a bitter blow after days of Mr Farage fawning over the world’s richest man, describing him as “a hero” and claiming he makes Reform “look cool”.
Mr Musk used his social media platform X to declare: “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.”
He had been expected to hand a multi-million pound donation to Reform to aid its efforts to win the next general election amid a feud with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
It is also unclear why Mr Musk has withdrawn his support from Mr Farage, who he met at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion alongside Reform treasurer Nick Candy just weeks ago to discuss the party’s ground game and financing.
But the dramatic u-turn comes after Mr Farage refused to join Mr Musk’s calls to release jailed political activist Tommy Robinson.
On Friday night Mr Farage heaped praise on Mr Musk, who is reportedly mulling a multi-million-pound donation to the Reform party, calling him a “hero figure, especially for the youth”.
But, after Mr Musk on X shared a call to “free Tommy Robinson”, Mr Farage said: “He sees Robinson as one of these people that fought against the grooming gangs. But of course the truth is Tommy Robinson’s in prison not for that, but for contempt of court.
“We’re a political party aiming to win the next general election. He’s not what we need.”
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court, which began in October.
Despite distancing himself from Mr Musk over Robinson, Mr Farage bent over backwards on Sunday morning to defend the billionaire’s incendiary X posts about home office minister Jess Phillips and Sir Keir.
Mr Musk suggested Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison” for denying requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.
He also attacked Sir Keir Starmer, saying the Prime Minister failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.
Reform UK leader Mr Farage told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that Mr Musk had used “very tough terms” but that “free speech was back” on X under his ownership.
He said that “tough things get said… by both sides of the debate”, adding that Mr Musk’s ownership of X makes it a place for “proper open debate”.
Mr Farage said: “This man happens to be the richest man in the world, but equally, the fact that he’s bought Twitter now actually gives us a place where we can have a proper open debate about many things…
“We may find it offensive, but it’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”
By contrast, Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said Mr Musk’s claims are a “disgraceful smear” considering the Labour minister’s efforts to support victims of abuse.
+ There are no comments
Add yours