Kemi Badenoch still a ‘fan’ of Elon Musk – but says MP abuse is ‘disgraceful’

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch she said Tommy Robinson is not a political prisoner – putting her at odds with the erratic billionaire just days after he endorsed her on Twitter.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is still a “fan” of Elon Musk, despite branding online abuse of MPs “disgraceful.”

And she said Tommy Robinson is not a political prisoner – putting her at odds with the erratic billionaire just days after he endorsed her on Twitter.

Last week, the erratic tech billionaire fell out with Nigel Farage, after the Reform leader distanced himself from Robinson – whom Musk had hailed as a “political prisoner” and demanded his release.

The same day, Musk praised Ms Badenoch for promising another inquiry into grooming gangs, tweeting: “Good for Kemi Badenoch!”

Ms Badenoch’s spokesman refused to say whether or not she believes Robinson, imprisoned for repeatedly defaming a victim of assault, should still be behind bars.

“I’m not going to talk about Tommy Robinson,” he said.

Asked whether she was pleased to get an endorsement from Musk last week, Ms Badenoch’s spokesman said: “I’m not entirely sure that’s what she got but he is a wealthy and very influential person, and she will continue to monitor what he says.”

“She is a fan of his work at Tesla, of his work to make X (Twitter) more about free speech, which I note Meta is now copying, and she is monitoring closely his work with DOGE (Musk’s so-called ‘department of government efficiency).”

The spokesman did not directly condemn Mr Musk’s online abuse of Labour minister Jess Phillips, whom he last week branded a “rape genocide apologist”.

But the spokesman said: “Any abuse directed to MPs is obviously disgraceful and should not happen, and as a black conservative woman, Kemi gets more than her fair share.”

Asked why she remained a fan despite his vile tweets, the spokesman said: “She is a fan of what he’s done with his companies.”