Elon Musk‘s support for Reform UK makes the party look ‘cool’ and helps it attract younger supporters, Nigel Farage insisted today.
The party leader, 60, praised the X owner and world’s richest man, 53, as his ‘American friend’ amid a row the Trump ally’s attacks on Sir Keir Starmer and senior Labour ministers.
Mr Farage used an appearance on the BBC‘s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg to say that Mr Musk was an outspoken supporter of ‘free speech’, after he branded minister Jess Phillips a ‘rape genocide apologist’ and a ‘wicked witch’.
Musk, who will have an unofficial role in the new Trump administration, also accused the PM of being ‘complicit in the rape of Britain’ in an ongoing social media spat over sexual abuse by gangs of British Asian men in northern English towns.
He has been linked with a $100million donation to Reform, but Mr Farage downplayed the likelihood of the handout being that big.
The Reform leader told the BBC: ‘He may well give us money.
‘Whether he does or not, I think what he gives us with huge numbers of young people, he makes us look cool.’
Regarding Musk’s attack on Ms Phillips, he added: ‘The fact that Musk supports me and supports Reform doesn’t mean as two grown ups, we have to agree with everything the other says.’
The party leader, 60, praised the X owner and world’s richest man, 53, as his ‘American friend’ amid a row the Trump ally’s attacks on Sir Keir Starmer and senior Labour ministers.
Mr Farage used an appearance on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg to say that Mr Musk was an outspoken supporter of ‘free speech’, after he branded minister Jess Phillips a ‘rape genocide apologist’ and a ‘wicked witch’.
The Reform leader told the BBC: ‘He may well give us money. Whether he does or not, I think what he gives us with huge numbers of young people, he makes us look cool.’ Farage is pictured with the Old Surrey, Burstow and West Kent Hunt on Boxing Day.
He added that Musk, the South African-born US businessman, had used ‘very tough terms’ but that ‘in public life, tough things get said’.
‘This man happens to be the richest man in the world, but equally, the fact that he’s bought Twitter now actually gives us a place where we can have a proper open debate about many things… free speech is back.
‘We may find it offensive, but it’s a good thing, not a bad thing.’
Asked if he was reluctant to criticise the billionaire because of the potential donation, Mr Farage said: ‘I think I made it perfectly clear that I don’t agree with everything he stands for, but I do believe in free speech.
‘I think he’s a hero, and I said that well before any potential money was offered.’
Chris Philp, the Tory shadow home secretary, said some of Mr Musk’s comments about Ms Phillips were “not appropriate” but he was right to raise the issue of grooming gangs.
“I think some of the specific language he used about Jess Phillips is not appropriate, but raising the issue as he has done generally I think is reasonable because vulnerable young girls were let down by the system,” he told the the BBC.
Health Secretary Mr Streeting was asked what he would say Mr Musk after his comments about Ms Phillips.
“It is a disgraceful smear of a great woman who has spent her life supporting victims of the kind of violence that Elon Musk and others say that they’re against,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
“And it’s all very well sitting there, and I’m not just talking about Musk – I’m talking about armchair critics on social media – it’s all very easy to sit there and fire off something in haste and click send, when people like Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips have done the hard yards of actually locking up wife beaters, rapists, paedophiles.”
He said the best response from the Government to Mr Musk was to focus on “tackling the problem, not talking about it”.
Mr Streeting added that if Mr Musk wants to “roll his sleeves up and actually do something about tackling violence against women and girls”, platforms such as X can help law enforcement to clamp down on people trying to groom children online.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has also defended the safeguarding minister, describing her as a “fearless and formidable” advocate for sexual abuse victims who has “campaigned tirelessly” for justice for those let down by institutional failure.
