For British politicians, the question of the moment is how do you handle Elon Musk?
The billionaire owner of X and Tesla, soon to take up a role as efficiency tsar in the Trump administration, has been throwing grenades almost every hour about British politics on his social media platform and dominating the headlines.
Much of it is inflammatory claims about Keir Starmer and his government – despite their efforts to build good relations with Donald Trump.
And until today, enthusiastic backing for Nigel Farage, who only in mid-December met Musk in the glitzy surroundings of Mar-a-Lago to talk money, amid reports he was considering a $100m donation to Reform.
Then bam! – after Farage repeatedly hailed Musk as a “hero” who made Reform “look cool” and was looking forward to a chat at Trump’s inauguration – the tables have turned rather dramatically.
Musk tweeted that Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead the party and that Reform needs a new leader.
His change of heart comes after Musk has spent days intensively tweeting about grooming gangs in the UK, and his support for jailed far right activist Tommy Robinson, who has seized on this issue.
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Farage, who has tried to distance himself from Robinson for most of his career, thinks this is the reason for the fall out, responding that he was surprised but added: “My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles.”
Last week, Musk posted a series of tweets calling for Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – to be released from prison, where he is serving an 18-month sentence for contempt of court for repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee.
Read more:
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What does this spat mean for Reform?
In the short-term, Reform would hardly have wanted an unexpected falling out just as they are trumpeting rising membership figures and Farage is poised to meet him in Washington.
But Farage sees Robinson as toxic for his brand, and a distraction from his mission of building a campaign machine to fight the next UK general election – even if he loses powerful friends.
The prospect of a donation from Musk – who has donated huge sums to Donald Trump’s campaign, would have been an enticing one, but there were already significant legal questions around it, under UK election rules.
Farage’s friendship with Trump, going back to his first term as president, also does not seem to have been affected, so a hotline to the White House is still possible.
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What does it mean for Starmer and Labour?
It’s unclear what Trump thinks about Musk’s recent obsession with British politics altogether – as he rails against Keir Starmer and other US allies hour by hour, and whether this online trolling will be tolerated after he takes up his job in the White House.
This is a question that Labour officials are eagerly awaiting the answer to, although there may be some relief that the criticism is now being turned on Farage.
Musk has – in the last day or two alone – made a series of incendiary and unfounded accusations against Starmer, claiming he was “complicit in the rape of Britain”, that he is “guilty of terrible crimes” and questioning whether he, as director of public prosecutions, “allowed rape gangs to exploit young girls without facing justice?”
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, doing interviews today, said Musk’s criticism was “completely ill-judged and ill-founded” and that Starmer had done a huge amount to support victims and achieve prosecutions in grooming cases. But largely, the government are trying to ignore the noise.
Kemi Badenoch was accused of dancing to Musk’s tune by calling for a national inquiry into grooming gangs – the Conservatives having rejected one when in government just two years ago.
An unelected US-based billionaire is now setting a cat among the pigeons for all parties in Britain – and throwing issues into the limelight which none will find easy to ignore.
