Elon Musk Does U-Turn On UK's Reform Party Leader Nigel Farage After Disagreement

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Sunday that Nigel Farage, a leader of Britain's right-wing Reform UK party, should quit. Musk's move came as an abrupt withdrawal of support for the Brexit campaigner who is trying to shake up the British Political establishment again.

"The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn't have what it takes," Musk said on his social media platform X on Sunday, a few hours after Farage described him as a friend who made Reform look "cool", news agency Reuters reported.

Farage reacted to Musk's comments, saying,“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.”

Musk – a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump – had seemingly backed Farage and posed for a photograph with him last month. He had met Farage in December at US President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, which Farage described as“historic” and“great”.

Farage has defended the tech tycoon's attacks on the UK government over its handling of grooming gangs in a series of posts on X, although he distanced himself from Musk's support for Robinson, saying he was“not what we need”.

Farage said earlier he is in negotiations with Musk about the billionaire donating to Reform to help it challenge the dominant Labour and Conservative parties.

But in a post on X on Thursday, Musk expressed support for jailed British extremist agitator Tommy Robinson , sparking a disagreement with Farage, AFP reported. Robinson was imprisoned in October after he admitted committing contempt of court over a long-running libel case involving a Syrian refugee.

But Farage distanced himself from comments made by Musk in support of British anti-immigration and anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, who is serving a prison sentence for contempt of court.

Musk previously sought to influence British politics and criticised Prime Minister Keir Starme repeatedly since anti-immigration riots last summer.

The Tesla founder last week backed calls for a national inquiry into the handling of cases of rape by men of Pakistani heritage of underage girls by the government's prosecution service which Starmer previously ran.

A 2014 inquiry found at least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual exploitation in Rotherham, northern England, between 1997 and 2013.

The Times said Starmer was expected to address the criticism at a news conference on Monday by saying he gave the green light to prosecuting paedophile gangs in 2013 and reformed the way that child abuse cases are handled by prosecutors.

But he was unlikely to criticise Musk directly given the billionaire's proximity to Trump, the newspaper said.

A spokesperson in Starmer's office declined to comment.

On Sunday, UK health minister Wes Streeting defended Starmer and another member of his cabinet, Jess Phillips, who incurred Musk's ire for reportedly saying that any fresh inquiry into another gang rape case should be handled by the local authority.

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