A former Brexiteer MP has warned Elon Musk he would be wasting his money if he donates $100 million to Reform UK.
Steve Baker said “no amount of money is going to make [party leader] Nigel Farage popular with the people who he currently repels”.
His comments followed reports that Musk, the billionaire owner of X, is planning to make a huge donation to Farage’s party as a “fuck you” to Keir Starmer.
Musk and the prime minister have had a long-running feud, dating back to the riots in the summer.
After Musk claimed that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, Starmer’s official spokesman hit back: “There’s no justification for comments like that and what we’ve seen in this country is organised illegal thuggery which has no place on our streets or online.”
Since then, Musk has made a series of criticisms of the Labour government, and last week predicted that Reform UK would win the next general election.
It is claimed that he could give the party $100m - about £78m - by channeling it through X’s British arm, thereby getting round rules barring foreign donations to British politics.
But speaking on Times Radio, Baker said: “It’s plainly wrong to put so much money through a subsidiary, and to do it in this way is plainly against the spirit of the rules.
“But the other thing I would say is no amount of money is going to make Nigel Farage popular with the people who he currently repels.
“He is not going to get Conservative-to-Lib dem switchers over to Reform - it’s just inconceivable.
“People loathe him as, I’m afraid, they loathe me over Brexit ... and people aren’t going to change their mind about Brexit. They aren’t going to change their mind about Nigel Farage.
“Not only would he be breaking the spirit of the rules, he’d also be completely wasting $100 million.”
But Musk’s father Errol told GB News that giving the money to Reform UK would be “a good idea”.
He said: “If the thing that’s stopping Farage from moving ahead is money, then he should get money so that he can move ahead.”