Musk turns on UK’s Farage and says he should quit as Reform party leader By Reuters

By William Schomberg

LONDON (Reuters) – Elon Musk said Nigel Farage should step down as leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform Britain party, following the U.S. billionaire’s sharp rejection of a Brexit campaigner who is trying to shake up Britain’s political establishment again.

“The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes,” Musk said on his social media platform X on Sunday, hours after Farag described him as a friend who is “poison” to Reform. gave an appearance.

Musk, a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, appeared to support Farage and was photographed with him last month.

In the national elections held last July, “Reform” received 4.1 million votes or 14 percent of the total votes and five seats in the parliament.

Farage previously said he was in talks with Musk about the billionaire’s donation to help reform to challenge the ruling Labor and Conservative parties.

But Farage distanced himself from Musk’s comments in defense of British anti-immigration and anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by the alias Tommy Robinson, who is serving a prison term for contempt of court.

Farage responded to Musk’s post on Sunday, saying: “Well, this is a surprise. Elon is a remarkable person, but I’m afraid I don’t agree. My point is that Tommy Robinson is not right for reform, and I’m never selling my principles.”

Last month, Musk backed Alternative for Germany, an anti-immigration, anti-Islam party that German security services labeled as far-right ahead of February’s national election.

Musk has previously tried to influence British politics and has repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer following last summer’s anti-immigration riots.

Last week, the Tesla (NASDAQ: ) founder backed calls for a national investigation into the rape of underage girls by men of Pakistani heritage by the government’s attorney general’s office, which Starmer previously led.

A 2014 investigation found that at least 1,400 children were sexually exploited between 1997 and 2013 in Rotherham, northern England.

Starmer is expected to address criticism at a press conference on Monday, saying he green-lighted the prosecution of child abuse gangs in 2013 and reformed the way prosecutors handle child abuse cases, The Times said. the form.

However, he is unlikely to directly criticize Musk, given the billionaire’s closeness to Trump, the newspaper writes.

A spokesman for Starmer’s office declined to comment.

On Sunday, Britain’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting defended Starmer and another member of his cabinet, Jess Phillips, who have drawn Musk’s ire by saying that any new investigation into another gang-rape case should be handled by local authorities.

“It’s all too easy to sit there and rush to shoot something and hit send when people like Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips have actually locked up wife beaters, rapists and child abusers,” Streeting told the BBC. in