Poltics
Nigel Farage and his celebration treasurer occupy met with Elon Musk at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for the first time since rumours surfaced of a multi-million donation from the tech tycoon.
The Reform UK chief and Gash Candy, the billionaire husband of singer Holly Valance who will take up the fundraising role for Mr Farage’s celebration in the original twelve months, met on Monday 16 December, the celebration acknowledged.
The meeting comes following reports that Mr Musk change into once fascinated with donating £78m to Mr Farage – an ally of Mr Trump – as a “f*** you Starmer payment”.
Later Mr Farage tweeted he had also met JD Vance, who’s determined to alter into vp.
The Times reported remaining month that if Mr Musk does occupy to glean the donation, he would invent so thru the British arm of his social media firm X, formerly Twitter, to bypass UK principles that prevent in a foreign country donations to a political celebration.
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Soon after his election victory, president-elect Trump confirmed that Mr Musk, the Tesla and X owner who’s also the arena’s richest man, will co-lead the original department of authorities effectivity, identified as DOGE for fast.
Each and each Mr Farage and Mr Candy occupy brushed aside the reports of a doable donation, with the Reform chief telling Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby it change into once a “story without any basis in fact”.
“Elon Musk is highly supportive of what Reform is making an attempt to invent, supportive of me in my conception. And we have bought the connections with him, and Gash’s bought moral connections with him as successfully.
“He’s giving us political support. We have, at this stage, neither solicited or been offered donations.”
On the opposite hand, the pair occupy both acknowledged they would no longer turn down a donation from Mr Musk if it change into once offered.
Following the meeting, Mr Farage and Mr Candy acknowledged: “We had a great meeting with Elon Musk for an hour yesterday.
“We discovered a great deal about the Trump ground game and would possibly possibly presumably perhaps fair nonetheless occupy ongoing discussions on different areas.
“We only have one more chance left to save the West and we can do great things together.
“Our thanks also to President Trump for allowing us to make use of Mar-a-Lago for this ancient meeting. The special relationship is alive and successfully.”
The news that Reform has met with Mr Musk would possibly possibly presumably perhaps spark concerns about in a foreign country affect in home politics.
Earlier this month Sky News heard a recording of a video name between the Conservative Party co-chair, Lord Johnson, and Tory activists wherein he accused Mr Musk of attempting to “buy” Reform UK.
Lord Johnson of Lainston acknowledged it change into once “extraordinary” Mr Musk change into once “basically buying one of the political parties here”.
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He acknowledged Mr Farage would possibly possibly presumably perhaps also fair nonetheless “be frankly embarrassed about that”, asserting he risked changing precise into a “puppet of a foreign politician” if he approved any donations from Mr Musk.
In a sign of the tension between the Conservatives and their Reform opponents, Lord Johnson acknowledged he believed the reports about a doable donation from Mr Musk to Reform occupy been “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”.
“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 acknowledged.
The high minister’s official spokesman acknowledged it change into once a “matter for the rules” when asked if a doable trim donation by Mr Musk to a UK celebration would fear Sir Keir Starmer.
He added: “There are already existing rules on foreign donations, but the government has committed to… strengthening the rules.”
