Elon Musk denies plotting huge donation to UK’s Nigel Farage
Westminster has been obsessed with reports of a potentially game-changing sum of money from the X owner.
Moderator - Tomas Kauer Elon Musk rejected reports he’s planning to give Brexiteer Nigel Farage’s party a cool £80 million.
The Sunday Times set hares running over the weekend as it reported on fears among “leading businessmen and Conservative Party officials” that the X owner is preparing to hand the right-wing, populist Reform UK outfit up to $100 million — a potentially game-changing sum of money in British political terms.
Musk — who has approvingly shared posts about Reform UK on X and sharply criticised Britain’s incumbent Labour government — has so far kept quiet on the report.
But he was asked by ITV News whether he will donate £80 million to Reform as he arrived on Capitol Hill to meet Republican lawmakers Thursday, and replied: “No.”
Farage — an ally of Donald Trump, who has tapped up Musk for a government efficiency drive — this week brushed aside talk of any donation as “entirely theoretical” and “pure speculation,” stressing he has never asked Musk for money.
However, the Reform UK leader did not rule out support from the U.S. president-elect or Musk in the future: “Are Trump and Elon going to support me in the run up to 2029? Well, that’s what friends are for, isn’t it?”
The X owner has embarked on a long-running social media feud with the Labour government since it entered office in July, battling repeatedly with Prime Minister Keir Starmer on law and order, social media regulation and economic policy.
Musk’s denial came as Conservative co-Chairman Dominic Johnson told Tory activists on a video call seen by Sky News that a donation from the world’s richest man to Reform would amount to “basically buying one of the political parties here.” He said Farage should “be frankly embarrassed” and risked becoming a “puppet of a foreign politician” if he accepts any Musk money.
