A co-chair of the Conservative Get together has accused Elon Musk of making an attempt to “buy” Reform UK following studies the tech tycoon is planning to reward Nigel Farage’s get together $100m (£78m).
In a recording of a video name with Tory activists heard by Sky Information, Lord Johnson of Lainston mentioned it was “extraordinary” that Mr Musk, the proprietor of X and Tesla and the world’s richest man, was “basically buying one of the political parties here”.
He mentioned Nigel Farage, the Reform chief, ought to “be frankly embarrassed about that”, saying he risked changing into a “puppet of a foreign politician” if he accepted any donations from Mr Musk.
Lord Johnson’s feedback, which have been made throughout a video name with Conservatives Overseas earlier this week, coincide with Kemi Badenoch’s journey to the US, the place she hopes to construct ties with the Republican Get together forward of Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The Tory chief is about to carry conferences with Republicans on Capitol Hill, however it’s unclear whether or not she is going to meet with president-elect Trump or his high advisers.
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The studies about Mr Musk’s potential donation to Reform first emerged in The Occasions. The newspaper mentioned Tory officers have been involved Mr Musk was making ready to provide £78m to Mr Farage – an ally of Mr Trump – as a “f*** you Starmer payment”.
The newspaper reported that if Mr Musk does resolve to make the donation, he would accomplish that by means of the British arm of his social media agency X, previously Twitter, to bypass UK guidelines that forestall overseas donations to a political get together.
Mr Farage has dismissed ideas he had acquired any donations from Mr Musk, telling BBC Radio 4’s PM this week that he had mentioned “nothing of the kind” with the tech billionaire.
The Reform chief mentioned that whereas he was a “huge admirer of Elon Musk”, who will co-lead a brand new division of presidency effectivity when Mr Trump assumes workplace, he had “never solicited a donation from him, and one has never been offered”.
Nonetheless, he did point out Reform could be prepared to just accept cash if Mr Musk determined to supply it, saying: “Would I accept money, given that we’re up against two big parties who are very heavily funded, and we scrape by mostly on our burgeoning membership fees? Yes, of course, I’d accept money.”
Lord Johnson, who was appointed co-chair of the Conservatives alongside Nigel Huddleston after the election, mentioned he discovered it “bizarre for the party that purports to be the party of Great Britain…not be willing to become the puppet of a foreign politician”.
“It’s completely extraordinary that Elon Musk is basically buying one of the political parties here,” he continued.
“I would have thought Nigel Farage should be frankly embarrassed about that and it will backfire significantly on them in terms of their core voter base, their ambitions and how they manage their affairs – so I think this is extremely bad for Farage to become a boy puppet of Elon Musk; it’s just something I’m quite baffled by.”
His feedback seem to sign a shift in tone within the Tories’ method to coping with Mr Musk, who has indicated sturdy help for Mr Farage whereas making disparaging feedback about Sir Keir Starmer.
Simply this week, Tory shadow minister and former get together chair Richard Holden mentioned he would welcome a donation from Mr Musk on the grounds that help for Mr Farage’s get together would solely serve to assist Labour.
“I’d say exactly the same to Elon Musk, and say look if you want to see Keir Starmer out of office, then more broadly if it’s yourself or anybody else, you’ve got to support the Conservatives,” he advised GB Information.
Ms Badenoch has additionally described herself as a “huge fan” of Mr Musk, saying he was “a fantastic thing for freedom of speech”.
Lord Johnson mentioned he believed the studies a few potential donation from Mr Musk to the Conservatives’ rivals was “frustrating because it takes a lot of oxygen and I’m very aware of the fact that people are talking about Reform today and they’re not talking about Kemi Badenoch and the new Conservative agenda”.
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“We have to make sure that we get the attention and we dominate people’s sort of attention span in order to make sure that they start looking back at us again rather than a frankly unrealistic alternative,” he mentioned.
In addition to inflicting points for the Conservatives along with his help for Reform, Mr Musk has additionally had run-ins with the Labour Get together, initially over Sir Keir’s response to the riots this summer time.
The tech tycoon branded the prime minster “two tier Keir” over his response to the dysfunction, suggesting he oversaw two-tier policing within the UK – the speculation propagated amongst some on the fitting that some protests and demonstrations are handled extra harshly than others.
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Extra lately, Mr Musk was accused of “interference” in British politics by Labour minister Alex Davies-Jones after he labelled the UK a “tyrannical police state” on his social media platform X.
He additionally reposted a petition signed by almost three million folks calling for one more normal election simply 5 months after the one in July.
“I would counteract Elon Musk’s claims that he does not agree with interference in foreign governments and I believe he shouldn’t be doing the same,” Ms Davies-Jones advised the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge final month.
A Reform UK spokesperson mentioned: “This leaked recording is the latest demonstration of a Conservative Party in a state of total panic about the momentum of Reform UK in British politics.”
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