Nigel Farage has revealed he would be willing to accept political donations from Elon Musk as rumours swirled that the X owner could stage a huge intervention in Westminster.
It was reported this weekend that Mr Musk could be considering handing as much as £100million to Reform UK, which would totally transform the party’s prospects.
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 PM programme this afternoon, Mr Farage said the rumours were “complete news to me”.
He added: “I’ve heard nothing of the kind like this. Certainly it leads us into a big political debate about the funding of political parties and how we should do things.
“But I want to make it clear, whilst the money would make a massive difference to our operations as a party, it’s purely theoretical.”
Asked if he would accept the cash, Mr Farage replied that he would “of course … accept money from Elon Musk”.
He clarified that the X owner would have to comply with election law, including either being a UK citizen or wiring it from a UK company.
He also said any donation would go towards employing professional staff to help with vetting candidates and campaigning.
Mr Farage said that while he has a working relationship with Mr Musk and others of US President-elect Donald Trump’s new top team, it does not mean he will be getting large donations any time soon.
The former UKIP and Brexit Party leader joked: “I buy lottery tickets so equally I could be £25million better off this Sunday – I don’t know!”
Mr Musk has repeatedly blasted Sir Keir Starmer’s Government, entering into a fierce war of words over the summer riots and free speech.
Reform UK is largely reliant on fees from its 100,000 members.
Both the Tories and Labour raised significantly more money than Reform during the General Election.
However, Mr Farage insisted that money “isn’t everything”, pointing out that the Liberal Democrats received £8million in 2019, only to perform badly in that year’s General Election.
