On Boxing Day, Nigel Farage was describing Elon Musk as “a bloody hero” and confirming that he was expecting a “reasonable sized donation” from the billionaire to Reform UK.
Barely a week later, Mr Musk’s love-in with Mr Farage’s party is looking a little awkward. Mr Musk, who began the day accusing Sir Keir Starmer of failing to go after grooming gangs, ended it by calling for the release of the far-Right activist Tommy Robinson, who was jailed in October for contempt of court for repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee.
Mr Musk retweeted posts describing Robinson as a “political prisoner” and separately said: “Britain needs Reform now!”
Mr Farage, to his credit, has no time for Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
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In 2018 he resigned from Ukip, the party he once led, over its “obsession” with Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League.
It is one of Mr Farage’s proudest achievements that he saw off the rise of the British National Party (of which Robinson is a former member) by taking on the likes of Nick Griffin, its leader in the noughties, and winning the argument.
Last year he told The Telegraph he had “done a service to the country in getting rid of the far-Right”, and he was red-faced with anger when it emerged that a Reform parliamentary candidate had previously been a member of the BNP.
How, then, does he square the circle of his own hero-worship of Tesla boss Mr Musk with the fact that Mr Musk in turn appears to hero worship a man Mr Farage rightly detests?
Nor is this a case of personal animus, which might be easier for Mr Farage to compartmentalise.
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Mr Farage left Ukip because its then leader Gerard Batten had appointed Robinson as an adviser and had become “pretty obsessed with the issue of Islam, not just Islamic extremism, but Islam, and Ukip wasn’t founded to be a party fighting a religious crusade.
“[He is] also obsessed with this figure Tommy Robinson.”
Is he now worried that Mr Musk has similarly become obsessed with Robinson? We do not know, as Mr Farage has not yet publicly responded to Mr Musk’s tweets in support of Robinson (whose adopted name was borrowed from a prominent football hooligan).
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s chairman, is a Muslim. What will he make of Mr Musk’s support for a man who has called Islam “a fascist and violent religion”?
Mr Farage has made his views on Tommy Robinson plain. He is toxic and so is everything he stands for. The problem is that a perception could quickly – no matter how wrongly – grow that because Mr Farage is close to Mr Musk, Mr Farage must also be a supporter of Robinson.
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It seems likely that Mr Farage will quietly warn his new friend that Robinson is bad news. Whether or not Mr Musk takes heed is another matter.
If Mr Musk fails to publicly distance himself from Robinson, Mr Farage will have a serious decision to make, part of which will be whether it would be right to accept the money he is now expecting from Mr Musk – money which could be transformative for Reform UK.
In the meantime, Conservatives who warned that Mr Farage would come to regret cosying up to Mr Musk might well be allowing themselves a satisfied smile.
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