Musk turns on UK politician Farage with left-leaning activist | Political Affairs

Elon Musk has withdrawn his support for Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom's Reform UK party, after falling out with the right-wing activist.

Musk said on Sunday that Reform UK must change its leader after Farage distanced himself from jailed anti-Islam campaigner Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.

“The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn't have what it takes,” said Musk on his social media site X.

Musk last week wrongly claimed that Yaxley-Lennon, who is serving an 18-month sentence for contempt of court, had been jailed for “telling the truth” about the child-rearing scandal that rocked the UK in the 2010s.

Yaxley-Lennon received the sentence after admitting breaching an order against making false allegations against a Syrian immigrant schoolboy who successfully accused him of perjury.

Asked about Musk's support for Yaxley-Lennon on Friday, Farage said the activist had been jailed for contempt of court, not for speaking out against gangs.

“We are a political party that aims to win the next national election. [Yaxley-Lennon] it's not what we need,” Farage told GB News.

Musk's broadside against Farage comes after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO publicly backed Reform UK, saying it was the only organization that could “save Britain”.

Farage last month told the BBC that Reform UK was in open discussions with Musk about his contribution to the party.

Responding to Musk on Sunday, Farage said the billionaire's comments were “surprising” but would not change his position.

“Well, this is amazing! Elon is a wonderful person but this time I'm afraid I don't agree,” he said to X.

“My opinion remains that Tommy Robinson is wrong for the Revolution and I never sell my principles.”

Musk, who has often been ranked as the richest person in the world, has entered politics in different countries as he recently came out in support of American President Donald Trump during his re-election campaign.

On Thursday, he said UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had failed to bring in criminals who trained while he was director of public prosecutions and should face “charges of complicity in the worst crime in British history”.

UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Musk's comments on the matter were “ill-judged and ill-informed”.

A 2014 investigation found at least 1,400 children had been sexually abused in Rotherham, northern England, between 1997 and 2013.

A report by academic Alexis Jay found that city authorities had repeatedly failed to take action on allegations of abuse, with some council workers expressing “fear of identifying the origin of the perpetrators for fear of being perceived as racist”.

The abusers in the Rotherham case were largely described by their victims as South Asian, although a 2020 study by the Home Office found that the majority of offenders in gang-based child sexual exploitation cases were white.

Musk, who is set to lead the so-called State Department in the incoming Trump administration, last month backed the anti-immigration group Alternative for Germany, which German security officials have designated as a suspected extremist group.