The Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s U-turn comes after he publicly supported Mr Farage’s populist British Reform Party.
Elon Musk has withdrawn support for Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s populist party Reform UK, following disagreements over the tech billionaire’s calls for the release of jailed far-right activists. .
Mr Musk said on Sunday that the leader of Reform UK should be replaced after Mr Farage distanced himself from anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.
“The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes,” Musk posted on his social media site X.
Last week, Musk falsely claimed that Yaxley-Lennon, who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court, was jailed for “telling the truth” about the childcare scandal that rocked Britain in the 2010s. did.
Yaxley-Lennon was sentenced after he admitted breaching an injunction against him repeating false claims about a Syrian refugee schoolboy who had sued him for defamation.
Asked on Friday about Mr Musk’s support for Yaxley-Lennon, Mr Farage said the activist had been jailed for contempt of court, not for speaking out against grooming gangs.
“We are a party looking to win the next general election.[Yaxley-Lennon]is not what we need,” Mr Farage told GB News.
Mr Musk’s opposition to Mr Farage comes as the CEO of Tesla and Space This was just days after he said that it was a political party.
Mr Farage told the BBC last month that Reform UK was in “open negotiations” with Mr Musk about donations to the party.
Mr Farage responded to Mr Musk on Sunday, saying the billionaire’s comments were a “surprise” but he would not change his position.
“Wow, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable person, but I unfortunately disagree on this one,” he told X.
“My view is that Tommy Robinson is not a good fit for reform, and I will never sell my principles.”
Musk, who has repeatedly been ranked as the world’s richest person, has become increasingly involved in international politics since he endorsed US President-elect Donald Trump during his re-election campaign.
He claimed on Thursday that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer should be “charged with complicity in the worst gang crime in British history” for failing to bring grooming gangs to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.
UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Mr Musk’s position on the issue was “misjudged and definitely misinformed”.
A 2014 investigation found that at least 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham, northern England, between 1997 and 2013.
A report by academic Alexis Jay found that town officials repeatedly failed to respond to allegations of abuse, and that some councilors were “afraid of being seen as racist, It was found that some people expressed “anxiety about identifying their origins.”
While the Rotherham perpetrators and victims were overwhelmingly described as South Asian, a 2020 study commissioned by the Home Office found that most perpetrators of gang-based child sexual exploitation It turned out that he was white.
Musk, who is set to co-head the so-called Department of Government Efficiency in the next Trump administration, last month endorsed the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany, which German security officials have branded as a suspected extremist organization. It is classified.
