Elon Musk considers funding Nigel Farage’s populist party

LONDON (AP):

It’s a photo that sent a tremor through British politics: Elon Musk flanked by British politician Nigel Farage and a wealthy backer, in front of a gilt-framed painting of a young Donald Trump.

Taken this week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the image suggested that Musk, a key player in the incoming US administration, could soon turn his disruptive attention to the UK.

Farage, Trump’s highest-profile British champion, confirmed talks are under way about Musk making a hefty donation to Farage’s party Reform UK. The Times of London reported it could be as much as $100 million, which would be far and away the largest political donation in UK history. The reports have sparked calls for Britain’s rules on political donations to be tightened – quickly.

“We did discuss money,” Farage told broadcaster GB News after the meeting with Musk. “That’s a negotiation we will go back and have again. He is not against giving us money. He hasn’t fully decided whether he will.”

Britain has strict limits on how much political parties can spend on elections, but they can accept unlimited donations, as long as the donors are UK voters or companies registered in Britain. Musk’s social network X has a British arm, Twitter UK Ltd, with a registered address in London.

Critics say that is a loophole that allows foreign influence in UK politics. The voting watchdog, the Electoral Commission, is calling for changes including limiting the amount a company can donate, so that it can’t put in more money than it earns in Britain.

“It’s crucial that UK voters have trust in the financing of our political system,” the commission’s chief executive Vijay Rangarajan told The Guardian. “The system needs strengthening, and we have been calling for changes to the law since 2013, to protect the electoral system from foreign interference.”

Britain’s centre-left Labour Party pledged during the summer election campaign to tighten the rules on political donations, though legislation is not scheduled in the coming year. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman Dave Pares said Wednesday that work is already under way to “reinforce existing safeguards” against “impermissible proxy donations”.

Both the Labour government and the right-of-centre opposition Conservatives are trying to figure out how to deal with Musk, who has taken a keen interest in the – and seemingly formed a strong dislike for Starmer.

Musk often posts on X about the UK, retweeting criticism of Starmer and the hashtag TwoTierKeir – shorthand for an unsubstantiated claim that Britain has “two-tier policing,” with far-right protesters treated more harshly than pro-Palestinian or Black Lives Matter demonstrators. Musk has compared British attempts to weed out online misinformation to the Soviet Union, and during summer anti-immigrant violence across the UK tweeted that “civil war is inevitable”.

Farage has echoed some of those themes in his own social media output and his party’s anti-“woke” agenda, which includes pledges to slash immigration, scrap green-energy targets and leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

Founded in 2021, Reform UK is the latest in a string of small hard-right parties led by Farage that have had limited electoral success, but an outsized influence on British politics. Farage’s opposition to the European Union helped push the country toward voting in 2016 to leave the bloc, a seismic political and economic break with the UK’’s nearest neighbours.

Reform U.K. won just five of the 650 seats in the House of Commons in July’s election, but came second in dozens more and secured 14% of the vote. Now it is pushing for fast growth, trying to professionalize its previously ramshackle organization and holding gatherings around the U.K. to recruit new members.

Farage, a strong communicator who has embraced TikTok and other platforms, aims to emulate Trump’s success in using the power of personality and social media to reach the “bro vote” – young men who are traditionally less likely to turn out at election time.

Farage told GB News that Musk has “already given me considerable help – understanding the process from start to finish, reaching disaffected communities who frankly feel there’s no point voting for anybody.”