Joe Stanley-Smith, Politico, January 5, 2025
Elon Musk stormed further into British politics on Sunday, urging Nigel Farage to stand aside as leader of the right-wing Reform UK party.
“The Reform Party needs a new leader,” Musk wrote on X, the social media site he owns. “Farage doesn’t have what it takes.”
Farage, for his part, said he disagreed with the tech billionaire’s assessment and won’t be standing down, even while Musk mused on possible successors.
Musk’s strident criticism of centrist politicians like Prime Minister Keir Starmer (whom he called a “national embarrassment” who “must go” on Sunday) is not unexpected — the Tesla entrepreneur’s politics have veered ever further to the right on race and migration in recent years, and he often picks fights online with left-wing leaders.
But his schism with Farage, a darling of the anti-immigration movement, is more surprising. Earlier on Sunday, when asked in a television interview about the insults and semi-truths Musk has thrown at Labour politicians, Farage defended Musk’s right to free speech.
At the same time, Farage disagreed with Musk’s endorsement of fascist figurehead Tommy Robinson, who is currently serving a prison sentence for contempt of court.
Musk has posted frequently about British politics in recent days, often referring to the child sexual abuse scandal in Rotherham, in which a gang of mostly British Asian men for decades abused mostly poor white girls while the authorities failed to intervene.
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In response to Musk’s Sunday call to stand down, Farage tweeted: “Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual, but on this I am afraid I disagree.”
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Conversely, Musk tweeted approval of a piece by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch in the Mail on Sunday in which she called for a full public enquiry into numerous separate gangs of Asian men allegedly abusing girls in towns across the country.
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