Nigel Farage has dismissed reports that American tech billionaire Elon Musk could donate millions of pounds to his political party Reform UK.
The owner of Tesla and X – the social media site formerly known as Twitter – is reportedly considering giving 100 million US dollars to Mr Farage.
The sum is equivalent to £78 million, and could pave the way for a huge upset in the British political landscape.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s PM, Mr Farage said “nothing of the kind” had been discussed by him and Mr Musk.
He added: “Certainly, it leads us into a big debate about the funding of political parties and how we should do things. But I want to make it clear whilst even a fraction of that money could make a massive difference to our operations, it is purely theoretical.”
Reports of the massive cash transfer were first aired in The Times newspaper over the weekend, attributed to claims by Conservative party officials and leading businessmen.
The newspaper also suggested that if the donation did materialise, it would come via the British arm of X, allowing Mr Musk to circumvent rules about foreign donations to a political party.
The Reform leader described himself as a “huge admirer of Elon Musk”, but had “never solicited a donation from him, and one has never been offered”.
He did, however, signal he would be willing to accept the donation if it was put on the table.
He told the BBC: “Would I accept money, given that we’re up against two big parties who are very heavily funded, and we scrape by mostly on our burgeoning membership fees? Yes, of course, I’d accept money.”
Despite Mr Farage’s dismissal of the story, Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, was less definitive, telling LBC: “Let’s wait and see.”
Mr Musk’s relationship with Sir Keir Starmer’s Government has taken a sour turn in recent months, with the tech billionaire giving his backing to a petition calling for another general election, and criticising many Labour policies.
The X owner has been nominated for a job in Donald Trump’s incoming US administration overseeing efforts to cut government expenditure deemed wasteful.
