Expert analysis by The Sun’s political editor Harry Cole
So, is Nigel Farage and Elon Musk’s love over?
Just two weeks ago, Nigel Farage was in Florida potentially seeking a hundred million dollar donation for Reform – if it could be done legally – from the richest man in the world.
They found kindred spirits in supporting Donald Trump.
They posed for photos at Mar-a-Lago in Florida – Trump’s country retreat where he appears to be preparing for the White House.
But today they had a fight.
Elon Musk has taken to his own platform, X, to say that Nigel Farage doesn’t have what it takes to be the leader of Reform.
Now, what happened?
Essentially it came down to Tommy Robinson – a far-right agitator – and an explosion of talk and debate over the festive period about Muslim groom groups in northern British cities.
Now, this scandal has been going on for decades in the UK, but it has found new impetus in the fact that a key supporter of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, has jumped into the issue and has been hammering Keir Starmer and Labor for days and days about it and on X.
Nigel Farage was out this morning saying he doesn’t necessarily agree with Musk, his super fan, his new best friend, about Tommy Robinson.
Nigel Farage has spent years distancing Reform, the Brexit Party, UKIP, all his previous parties from Tommy Robinson and the EDL and his supporters.
He does not allow, does not allow their supporters to join the Reformation and wants nothing to do with them.
But Elon Musk wrongly said that Tommy Robinson is a political prisoner, he was imprisoned, not for contempt of court, but as a political prisoner for “blowing the whistle”, so he says, on these timarillos.
Now, that’s not true.
Nigel Farage came out and said very clearly this morning on the BBC that he would take Musk aside at Trump’s inauguration in a few weeks and say ‘look, you’re wrong’.
As an absolutist of freedom of speech, Farage defended Musk, he said that it is “cool” for Reform that Musk, a man who throws rockets into space, made a Tesla car, has a bunch of other companies, it is “cool” for young voters that Musk interested in reform.
Well, that blew up in his face today.
Now, looking at the short term, it looks pretty uncomfortable for Farage.
He can say goodbye to a donation of one hundred million pounds.
He came out and tweeted back: ‘Look, well, I disagree on principle about this, about Tommy Robinson’.
Labor supporters everywhere are saying how much fun it is.
There’s also a lesson for Farage: watch what you’re doing, suck it up with maybe a little longer spoon, especially when the person you’re going to bed with is a notoriously fickle billionaire who may not really know what he’s talking about when it comes to British politics like he does when it comes to pulling giant rockets out of space with a stick, so to speak.
So there’s a bit of a backlash.
But in the long run I don’t think it’s necessarily as bad for Nigel Farage as it first appears and the fact that if he can say ‘look, I’m not going to give him my principles, I don’t like Tommy Robinson, I think the EDL are scum, I think that they are extreme right-wing agitators I want nothing to do with’ that would help him in his ultimate goal, which is, don’t forget, to become prime minister in 2030 or at least win hundreds of seats.
He won’t be able to do that from a position on the far right, politics is won by getting as many people into the tent as possible, and Tommy Robinson, despite what you may see on Twitter or Xu or Facebook or social media, remains one of the most venomous and venomous characters in British public life.
So a little embarrassing for Nigel Farage today, but in the long run it may not hurt his ultimate goal of bringing Reform to the Tory heartland and winning over millions more voters in 2029.
However, I think there is another lesson for Farage, which is to be careful how quickly you befriend people.
It’s obvious that he’s kind of all into Donald Trump now, Donald Trump seems to be a bit more moderate, he seems to be a bit calmer, we’re seeing a slightly different Donald Trump, but a lot of British voters honestly remember the chaos of the four years he was in the White House home.
And if Trump’s romance, love affair, friendship goes awry for Farage as well, you might think the “once bitten twice shy” should have been a little more careful about who he gets into bed with.
So, a tough day for Reform, but a bit embarrassing and some lessons learned, I think for a man who is really trying to present himself as potentially the next British Prime Minister, but certainly the official leader of the UK opposition – just be careful who your friends are.
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education