Farage Calls Reports of $100m Elon Musk Donation “Complete News to Me”

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, has dismissed discussions concerning a potential $100m (£78m) contribution from American billionaire Elon Musk to his party as “pure speculation.” Farage informed the BBC that the notion was “complete news to me” and that “I’ve heard nothing of the kind.” These rumours were initiated by the Sunday Times, which reported that Conservative Party officials were apprehensive that Reform might leverage such funds to significantly undermine their party in the forthcoming election. Mr. Musk’s father, Errol, suggested in an interview with GB News that his son, whose grandmother was British, could obtain UK citizenship to circumvent regulations on foreign donations. Mr. Musk is a prominent critic of Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and has publicly supported Reform UK to form the next government in posts on his social media platform X. As a US citizen, Mr. Musk is unable to make personal political donations in the UK. However, the Sunday Times proposed that a donation could potentially be made through the British branch of X. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, Farage commented that “even a fraction of that money would make a massive difference to our operation as a party, [but] it’s purely theoretical.” He further clarified that while he knows Mr. Musk and “politically he is a supporter of mine, there’s no secret to that, I’ve never solicited a donation from him and one has never been offered.” Farage also expressed doubts about the feasibility of such a large donation being channeled via the UK arm of Mr. Musk’s X social media site, formerly known as Twitter. He explained, “As far as the company is concerned the Electoral Commission would take a view that a donation that came from a company would have to be proportional to the size of the company in this country.” Farage dismissed the idea, stating, “The idea that X Corp could give $100m to any political party is for the birds.” When pressed on whether he would accept a donation, Farage replied, “of course I would accept money,” but noted that James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party spent £25m on the 1997 election and “got 3%” of the vote. He concluded by saying, “Money isn’t everything.” Mr. Musk, who was born in South Africa, previously donated $75m to US President-elect Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, with $72m of that sum going to America PAC, a political action committee he established. Errol Musk, his father, further suggested that the SpaceX and Tesla mogul might even be prepared to become a UK citizen to make a $100m donation to Reform UK. He told GB News: “I’m eligible for British citizenship, so is he, I suppose.” He added: “If the thing that’s stopping Farage from moving ahead is money, then he should get money so that he can move ahead.” Asked about his family’s opposition to Sir Keir, Errol Musk stated: “What’s happened in England is just totally un-English.”