A rare note of thanks goes to Elon Musk for his hilarious New Year farce turning Reform UK’s leader into a complete laughing stock

~ Rob Ray ~

What an excellent few days it’s been for far-right watching. Over in the US we’ve been seeing the hardline racist wing of MAGA screaming about betrayal because it turns out big tech doesn’t actually want to deny itself cheap skilled international labour. And domestically Farage has been comprehensively skewered by his dalliance with Elon Musk.

The latter has been a really wild ride. Initially warning flags were raised when reports broke that Musk was considering giving a donation worth up to $100 million to Farage’s Reform UK, the sort of sum that barely touches the sides in US elections but potentially transformative for the rapidly rising fortunes of the Daily Telegraph’s political wing.

Labour was particularly wrongfooted as Musk simultaneously went after Keir Starmer, seemingly confusing the Labour leader for some sort of leftist and smarting from a perceived conference snub. Which left the party both scrambling to work out how to remain suitably subservient to an incoming US administration while also not looking like a powerless, whipped dog. In the end only the first was well observed, taking the apparent view that blocking obvious foreign political interference would do more damage than giving their opponents 100 million quid. 

In some ways, however, the offer was also problematic for Farage. After all, this is a man who made his bones vocally castigating Westminster for giving up sovereign independence to Europe. Taking the sort of Yankee money that couldn’t possibly come without any strings attached would be wildly hypocritical, wouldn’t it? You can’t really portray yourself as a man who won’t be bought when you’re rolling around on a pile of overseas cash. 

That sort of money can turn anyone’s head though, even a man as undoubtedly honest and upstanding as Nigel “buy crypto” Farage who’s beyond such petty pursuits as grubbing for cash with paid-for recorded messages or ripping off his MEP allowances. And so our hero in light blue duly kissed that ring in no less a place than the Reform Party Conference, proudly announcing that, though the final amount wouldn’t be 100 million, he was pleased to have King Elon’s support. He described him as a “hero”.

Except that even as he was speaking, there was a problem emerging. Elon, as is his wont, was Xhitting out a bunch more ill-thought-out opinions on topics he had very little clue about, including zero-research opinions on UK paedophile rings, and the jailing of Tommy Robinson. 

The former, ill informed though it might be, wasn’t really much of a problem for Farage to support (it’s more an issue for Kemi Badenoch) but the latter was thorny. Robinson and his cohort are an embarrassment for Britain’s vote-grubber far right, not just because they hark back to an earlier, knuckle-dragging period in their history that alienates the public, but also because Nige had made a big deal of pretending his rhetoric had nothing to do with the recent riots. Which extended into outright denouncing that sort of thing, and has infuriated many of Tommeh’s most fervent supporters.

Musk’s intervention thus put the party in a tough spot. In taking the money, they would also be taking on the problem of being pointed at every time he came out with stupid comments. Something had to be done. A quiet word, perhaps, suggesting support for Tommy wasn’t the right call? A few hints in his speech that he didn’t agree with everything Elon said, all the time?

Well, whatever quiet murmurs of not-quite dissent they were, old Elon clearly wasn’t in the mood. By 2pm on Sunday, after days of obsessing about ‘muslim grooming gangs’ in a country thousands of miles away from the US (America First going well as always), he’d lost faith in his latest toy, Xhitting:

“The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.”

To which a clearly disappointed Farage responded: 

“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.”

Ah come on now Nige, you were already selling out your principles. Claiming that high ground directly after you’ve been dumped is a bit “you can’t fire me I quit”. 

So Farage has not only sold out his reputation for independence, defending sovereignty and suchlike, gifting the left a line that “he doesn’t actually care about foreign interference at all”, it now looks like he won’t even get the cash. 

It’s been a real hoot.