The cat really is amongst Britain’s political pigeons. A fanciful news story run, I am led to believe, after inspiration from the Conservative opposition’s treasury team. The story, which appeared in The Sunday Times, was meant to undermine and ridicule Nigel Farage and his insurgent Reform Party (for whom I worked until a couple of months ago). The tale suggested that Elon Musk was thinking of donating $100 million to Reform.
The point of planting the story was that Musk would reject the story, and would then accuse Farage of creating it as some sort of underhand begging letter to force Musk into a donation. But this oh-so-clever ploy has now blown up spectacularly in the Conservative’s faces.
The simple fact is that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and the hands-on owner of the social media giant X, has a touch of devilment in him. Though he predictably poured cold water on the $100 million idea, as did Farage, it set off an idea.
It apparently got Musk thinking, “Well, I hadn’t considered that,” but for what is essentially small change to him he could easily disrupt UK politics, and possibly help put Farage, the consummate outsider and showman of British politics, into Number 10 Downing Street.
Musk knows Farage, though not well, but he does know that Farage has been loyal to his friend Donald Trump since first meeting him during the-run up to the US presidential election in 2016.
To Trump, Farage is “Mr Brexit”, the only non-US politician to have endorsed him prior to his first election win. Both men respect and reward loyalty. And despite all the brickbats thrown at them, the friendship has matured.
Prior to The Sunday Times story, a trip to see Trump and his team at Mar-a-Lago would most likely have been about Farage getting the first exclusive British TV interview with the new president after his inauguration in January. Farage’s award-winning evening politics show on GBNews has hosted Trump before, but a new interview would be a real feather in his cap.
But with all this talk of money a different focus was created. Only a week ago, Farage appointed the British property billionaire, Nick Candy, to be Reform’s treasurer and chief fundraiser. This trip to Mar-a-Lago (not the first, Farage had taken Candy to meet Trump there a couple of years earlier) could now focus on other things.
Over the past few years Musk has shown a specific interest in UK politics. To him Britain is Athens to America’s Rome. It is where the ideas of liberty that drove the American Revolution were born. And he sees the dead hand of the state quashing liberties and free speech. He also knows that without those things the likelihood of economic growth is suppressed.
He is also a car manufacturer, and like Henry Ford before him, he wants a world where people are rich enough to be able to afford his cars. Talks have now taken place between Farage, Musk and Candy, and though no details have been released, an extraordinary photo of the three of them, beneath a weirdly cricket-looking portrait of the young Trump, was released. Farage was not coy about the thrust of the discussions.
Cue outrage in the UK. The Labour party, which has for years had the support of the rich and famous (since the election BlackRock, the international investment company, and Bill Gates have been honoured guests of the Prime Minister) and have received funding from financiers, have let it be known that they are considering tightening up donation rules, Currently, non-UK individuals are not allowed to donate to political parties. This was brought in to stop Irish terrorists being funded by the US Irish networks. What is legal is that British firms can donate, and yes, Musk owns the UK subsidiaries of both X and Tesla amongst others, so opponents to the Musk donations will have to act fast.
The funnier response is from the Tories though. Andrew Griffith, the former Treasury Minister and now Shadow Minister for Trade, took to the airwaves about the possible donation. His line was essentially, ‘The Conservative party is bigger and more important than Reform, so really he should be donating to us, we are really important’.
If Musk does get involved in UK politics, it will be a game changer. He sees in Farage a fellow disrupter, someone who believes in liberty and the anglosphere tradition.
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