Musk savages Farage, calls for new Reform UK leader

Elon Musk stormed further into British politics on Sunday, urging Nigel Farage to stand aside as leader of the right-wing Reform UK party.

“The Reform Party needs a new leader,” Musk wrote on X, the social media site he owns. “Farage doesn’t have what it takes.”

Farage, for his part, said he disagreed with the tech billionaire’s assessment and won’t be standing down, even while Musk mused on possible successors.

Musk’s strident criticism of centrist politicians like Prime Minister Keir Starmer (whom he called a “national embarrassment” who “must go” on Sunday) is not unexpected — the Tesla entrepreneur’s politics have veered ever further to the right on race and migration in recent years, and he often picks fights online with left-wing leaders.

But his schism with Farage, a darling of the anti-immigration movement, is more surprising. Earlier on Sunday, when asked in a television interview about the insults and semi-truths Musk has thrown at Labour politicians, Farage defended Musk’s right to free speech.

At the same time, Farage disagreed with Musk’s endorsement of fascist figurehead Tommy Robinson, who is currently serving a prison sentence for contempt of court.

Musk has posted frequently about British politics in recent days, often referring to the child sexual abuse scandal in Rotherham, in which a gang of mostly British Asian men for decades abused mostly poor white girls while the authorities failed to intervene.

On Sunday Musk tweeted harrowing passages from the independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. He also reposted statistics according to which 80 percent of gang rapes in Britain are committed by Pakistani men. (The original tweeter had incorrectly attributed the statistics to the “Cockbain report,” which doesn’t exist; they were actually produced by the now-defunct Quilliam think tank, and have been discredited.)

The tensions around the Rotherham scandal, and others like it from around the United Kingdom, contributed to race riots that took place in August, during which Musk also clashed with the United Kingdom’s government.

Musk has found also found common ground around this scandal with Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Both claim that an epidemic of sexual violence is being driven by immigrants from majority-Muslim countries and their descendants.

Musk “has a whole range of opinions, some of which I agree with very strongly, and others [about] which I’m more reticent,” Farage said on Friday.

In response to Musk’s Sunday call to stand down, Farage tweeted: “Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual, but on this I am afraid I disagree.”

Reveling in the online discussion he stoked regarding Reform’s leadership, Musk responded to a post asking if MP Rupert Lowe should take over as Reform leader: “I have not met Rupert Lowe, but his statements online that I have read so far make a lot of sense.”

Speculation has been rife that Musk, the world’s richest man, could make a significant financial intervention into U.K. politics. In the November 2024 American election, which saw Donald Trump win, Musk gained the president-elect’s ear and an advisory role on a major government shake-up.

Musk’s claim that Reform would be better off without Farage — under whose leadership the party has seen electoral and political success — would seem to negate any injection of cash.

Conversely, Musk tweeted approval of a piece by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch in the Mail on Sunday in which she called for a full public enquiry into numerous separate gangs of Asian men allegedly abusing girls in towns across the country.

Several investigations gave examined the appalling abuse suffered by women and girls around Britain by gangs of pedophiles, including a national-level enquiry in 2022 set up by the Conservative government.

Badenoch said she wants a new inquiry to “start by considering the likely racial or religious motivation of these crimes.”

This story has been updated.