Oh dear. Is there trouble in paradise? For a few weeks now, Nigel Farage has been basking in a transatlantic glow thanks to the support of his buddies Stateside. The Reform party leader’s meeting with Elon Musk last month led to concern in both Labour and the Conservative party that the world’s richest man will soon give a sizeable donation to his party. This combined with the president-elect’s longstanding friendship with Farage has led to concern amongst Conservatives that 2025 could be Farage’s year.
However, in a sign that things may not be quite so simple for the Reform party leader, Musk appears to have gone cold on his new friend. Over the past few days the issue of child grooming gangs has been top of the news agenda (even if it has been missing at times from the BBC homepage) thanks largely to Musk’s interventions online. The tech billionaire and close ally of Trump has blasted the Labour government for failing to address the issue and called for the release of Tommy Robinson. Notably, Farage has distanced himself from Musk’s comments on Robinson – arguing that while Musk is entitled to his own views, it is not one that he shares and adding that Robinson would not be welcome in the Reform party.
Could this be behind Musk’s latest tweet? This Sunday, Musk has taken to social media to declare:
The Reform party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.
And it seems Musk isn’t alone in his belief, with Reform’s former deputy leader telling GB News that he thinks the tech billionaire was right to tweet that. For his part, Farage took to Twitter shortly afterwards to issue a rather measured response, writing:
Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual but on this I am afraid I disagree. My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles.
Strong stuff. Musk is yet to go into any further detail as to the reason for his apparent change of heart. However, it’s not gone unnoticed in Reform circles that one of Farage’s parliamentary colleagues Rupert Lowe is winning plenty of support from Musk online these days. Watch this space…
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