Nigel Farage said he has ‘no desire to go to war’ with billionaire Elon Musk, who humiliated him at the weekend. He claimed the bromance can still be fixed
Nigel Farage says he has ‘no desire to go to war’ with Elon Musk
Grovelling Nigel Farage says he hopes he can “mend” his relationship with Elon Musk afer his humilation on Sunday.
The Reform UK leader described the tech billionaire as a “cult hero” and says he will chat with him when he jets off to the US later in the month. Musk had been set to plough tens of millions of pounds into the party – but on Sunday caused shock by calling for a new leader.
But Mr Farage said he wants to fix things. He said he will head off to the US for Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20. But he was unable to say who will pay for his flights.
The Reform leader said: “I am confident that whatever has been said we can mend, you can build bridges.” Mr Farage told LBC he would be attending Trump’s inauguration later this month for “four or five days”. He said: “I have no desire to go to war with Elon Musk, and I’m not going to. And I haven’t done.
“I’m a huge admirer of him. I think he’s a heroic figure. I think the sort of tech changes that he’s bringing to the world are incredible.
“I think buying Twitter actually has bought a lot of free speech back, even if some people don’t like what’s being said.” He rejected Keir Starmer’s view that attacks on Jess Phillips had “crossed the line”.
The Reform boss said: “If he (Musk) was inciting violence, then that would be going beyond the line at which free speech is acceptable. It’s very, very strong language and it offends many, but then free speech should be able to offend many.”
Asked who would be paying for his flights to the US for Trump’s inauguration, he said: “I don’t know… Yeah, it may well be me. I don’t know yet.”
Musk has come under fire after a string of attacks on Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips after the Government rejected a national inquiry into grooming gangs. He has also called for far-right agitator Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – to be freed.
Mr Farage has hinted that he and Musk disagree over Robinson, who was jailed for contempt of court in 2019 for interfering in a grooming gang case at Leeds Crown Court.
He said: “Many of my American friends have seen one side of the Robinson story. You know, he says he’s in prison for exposing the grooming gangs. ‘Oh, my goodness me, this is dreadful. He’s a political prisoner’.
“The fact is, he’s been in prison many times over the years, three times for contempt of court. I mean, once he almost brought down a trial at which gang rapists were ultimately convicted, remember?
“So I am on a campaign right now in America just to educate people as to who Tommy Robinson actually is.” Asked by host Nick Ferrari whether it would impact Mr Farage’s relationship with Trump.
He said: “Oh, I’ve been a friend of Donald Trump’s for a decade. I’ve been very supportive of him, he’s been very supportive of me. I can’t see that changing for a moment.
“And interestingly, despite what Elon said when he woke up the other morning… I think yesterday he retweeted me twice with positive messages. So I don’t know.”