Massive Elon Musk donation news to me, says Farage

Reform UK person Nigel Farage says speech of a $100m (£78m) donation to his enactment by US billionaire Elon Musk is "pure speculation".

Farage told the BBC the thought was "complete quality to me" and "I’ve heard thing of the kind".

The rumours were sparked by the Sunday Times, which reported Conservative Party officials were acrophobic astir Reform utilizing the wealth to hitch their enactment retired astatine the adjacent election.

Mr Musk's begetter Errol in an interrogation with GB News, suggested his son, whose grandma was British, could instrumentality UK citizenship to get circular overseas donation rules.

Mr Musk is simply a salient professional of Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and has backed Reform UK to signifier the adjacent authorities successful posts connected his societal media level X.

As a US national Mr Musk cannot marque idiosyncratic governmental donations successful the UK.

But a donation could beryllium made done the British subdivision of X, the Sunday Times suggested.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, Farage said "even a fraction of that wealth would marque a monolithic quality to our cognition arsenic a party, [but] it’s purely theoretical".

He added that though helium does cognize Mr Musk and "politically helium is simply a protagonist of mine, there’s nary concealed to that, I’ve ne'er solicited a donation from him and 1 has ne'er been offered".

He besides raised doubts that a donation of that size would beryllium imaginable if funnelled via the UK limb of Mr Musk’s X societal media site, formerly known arsenic Twitter.

"As acold arsenic the institution is acrophobic the Electoral Commission would instrumentality a presumption that a donation that came from a institution would person to beryllium proportional to the size of the institution successful this country," helium said.

"The thought that X Corp could springiness $100m to immoderate governmental enactment is for the birds."

Pressed connected whether helium would judge a donation, Farage said “of people I would judge money” but pointed retired that James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party spent £25m connected the 1997 predetermination and "got 3%" of the vote.

He added: "Money isn’t everything."

Mr Musk, who was calved successful South Africa, donated $75m to US President-elect Donald Trump's re-election bid, with $72m of that going to a governmental enactment committee helium acceptable up called America PAC.

Mr Musk's begetter Errol suggested the SpaceX and Tesla mogul mightiness adjacent beryllium prepared to go a UK national to marque a $100m donation to Reform UK.

He told GB News: "I'm eligible for British citizenship, truthful is he, I suppose."

He added: "If the happening that's stopping Farage from moving up is money, past helium should get wealth truthful that helium tin determination ahead."

Asked what his household had against Sir Keir, Errol Musk said: "What's happened successful England is conscionable wholly un-English."