Elon Musk has slammed Nigel Farage as “weak sauce who will do nothing”, reigniting his series of scathing attacks on the Reform UK leader.
The billionaire Tesla owner and world’s richest man has said that Mr Farage is not capable of enacting real change in the UK, particularly in relation to immigration.
Musk has thrown his support behind figures including Rupert Lowe, an independent MP who used to sit as a Reform representative until he had the party whip suspended due to allegations of bullying and verbal threats towards its chairman Zia Yusuf.
Mr Lowe denies the allegations and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said he will not face any charges.
The X owner has thrown his support behind the Advance UK party, which is led by Ben Habib, a former deputy leader at Reform.
“Advance UK will actually drive change. Farage is weak sauce who will do nothing”, Musk wrote on X on Tuesday evening.
Hours earlier, in response to an attack by Mr Farage on Mr Lowe, Musk said: “Unfortunately, the reality is that Farage will do almost nothing to protect Britain. That is obvious.
“Existing law is clear that anyone who was an accessory to aggravated rape or murder, especially of children, is guilty of serious crime and must either serve time in prison if a citizen or be deported if not.
“The government simply needs to enforce the law.”
Reform has been approached for comment.
The X owner’s comments came hours after Mr Farage announced a major new policy which would see children among the 600,000 asylum seekers who could be deported in the first parliament of a Reform UK government.
Musk and Farage’s relationship has gone through a series of twists and turns, with the US billionaire initially viewing Mr Farage as a favourable contender to be Britain’s next prime minister.
Their relationship appeared so strong that there were rumours Musk was set to donate $100 million to Reform UK. “He wants to help us, he’s not opposed to the idea of giving us money, provided we can do it legally through UK companies,” Mr Farage said at the time, while shooting down the rumoured figure.
But in a sudden change of heart in January, Musk publicly disowned Mr Farage as a serious political contender, after Mr Farage’s continual rejection of involving Tommy Robinson in the Reform UK setup.
“The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes,” Musk wrote, prompting a surprised response from the UK.
“Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual but on this I am afraid I disagree. My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles.”
Mr Farage afterwards said he wants to “mend” his relationship with Mr Musk.
He told reporters: “Not having Elon’s support would damage us with that younger generation because he kind of makes us look cool, so I’m being frank about that, and I am confident that whatever has been said, we can mend. I really think we can.”
Mr Farage later claimed that Musk was only “trying to encourage” him when he called for the Reform leader to be sacked.
“We talked about it,” he told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, adding: “He was just trying to encourage me in a few policy areas, ones I wasn’t prepared to go down.”
