Farage on Musk: I’m prepared to forego donations to defend Reform UK principles

Nigel Farage has said he is prepared to forego donations in order to defend Reform UK’s “principles” after Elon Musk turned against him – but still regards the multibillionaire as a “hero”.

Mr Farage said he had been “surprised” when the tech entrepreneur, who reports suggested had been in talks to give a large sum to the party, claimed on Sunday he “doesn’t have what it takes” to serve as its leader.

Mr Musk did not explain the reasoning behind his intervention, but the Clacton MP suggested it was because of his refusal to endorse far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

On Monday, Mr Farage said the “golden rule” that former BNP activists will not be welcomed as members will not be changed, and that if Mr Musk “knew the full story of Tommy Robinson, he might have a slightly different view”.

“I’m not giving up principles. I do not allow former BNP activists into this party. That’s a golden rule,” he said.

“We want no links with extremism of any kind at all. It’s not going to happen under my leadership. I’m sorry, but Mr Robinson is not suitable for our party.

“He’s not somebody that we’re going to endorse. And if defending that principle means that I have to forego donations or whatever else it may be, well I’m sorry but for me, principle comes first.”

He said Robinson, who has been jailed for contempt of court, “puts himself up for martyrdom” and “on the back of it, there’s a list as long as your arm of convictions”.

“Frankly, we have to have the rule of law,” Mr Farage said. “He is not a hero figure to me.”

He added: “All over America there are prominent Republicans who think Tommy Robinson is a hero because they’ve heard Tommy Robinson’s side of the story. There is a lot, lot more to it that many in America don’t understand.”

But he said “of course” he still regarded Mr Musk as a “hero” for “buying Twitter and opening up social media as a place where there is now much more free speech than there was when he bought it”.

“Whatever he might have said about me in the last 24 hours doesn’t change my view,” Mr Farage said.

Asked if he was confident about the party’s prospects without a donation from Mr Musk, he said: “We will raise the money we need.”

In a slew of posts on social media platform X, which he owns, Mr Musk had urged Mr Farage to stand aside, after the MP disagreed with his endorsement of Robinson.

The Reform UK leader reacted by saying his view on Robinson remained the same, with Mr Musk then writing in a post published minutes after Mr Farage’s response saying: “Free Tommy Robinson now.”

Elsewhere in the barrage, the Tesla boss accused the Prime Minister of failing to tackle grooming gangs while he was director of public prosecutions, and called safeguarding minister Jess Phillips a “witch” and a “rape genocide apologist”.

Asked about the comments on Monday, Sir Keir Starmer condemned “the poison of the far right” that has resulted in Ms Phillips and others receiving threats and being put at risk.

He criticised the Conservative Party for failing to call out vitriolic remarks about the minister, and defended his own record on handling child sexual exploitation, saying he had dealt with the problem “head on” as DPP.

Asked about Mr Musk’s posts to his 210 million followers, after a speech at Epsom Hospital in Surrey, the Prime Minister said: “Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they are interested in themselves.”