Facebook
X
LinkdIn
Copy Link
It’s happened. To the likely dismay of both British prime minister Keir Starmer and leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farage has met with Elon Musk to discuss his party’s electoral prospects. The Reform Party leader, along with the party’s new treasurer Nick Candy, spoke to the tech billionaire and close Donald Trump ally at Mar-a-Lago, in Florida, on Monday. Announcing news of their encounter as part of the pair’s stateside trip, Farage and Candy said they had enjoyed “a great meeting with Elon Musk” that had gone on for an hour:
We had a great meeting with Elon Musk for an hour yesterday. We learned a great deal about the Trump ground game and will have ongoing discussions on other areas. We only have one more chance left to save the West and we can do great things together. Our thanks also to President Trump for allowing us to use Mar-a-Lago for this historic meeting. The special relationship is alive and well.
Farage and Candy said they had enjoyed ‘a great meeting with Elon Musk’
The meeting comes following speculation that Musk could donate money to the Reform Party. Over the weekend, Candy set out in an interview with the Sunday Times of London how this could be done legally through one of the companies Musk operates in the UK. While today’s statement makes no announcement of a donation, they do say there will be “ongoing discussions on other areas.” This appears to allude to a potential donation in the future.
So, who will the meeting annoy the most: Keir Starmer or Kemi Badenoch? For the prime minister, it is an unhelpful reminder of the power balance next month when Trump returns to the White House. While Labour members have said they do not need — and do not want — Farage’s help building relations with the White House, the government will at the very least have to get used to there being a third person in the UK-US special relationship. Starmer may sometimes discover what the president and his team are thinking through the Reform leader.
Yet the Musk-Farage axis may be a bigger problem in the immediate term for Badenoch. Not only has the Tory leader praised Musk previously as a champion of free speech, she is in need of financial donations to her party with the Tories short of funds following the election. If Farage wins a large donation from Musk in the coming months, it will serve to boost Reform’s campaign efforts at a time when the Tory Party is struggling to make ends meet. That’s rather unhelpful timing for Badenoch ahead of a year in which Farage hopes to prove that his party is the real alternative to Labour.
