4 days ago
6
Stuart Mitchell
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and the party's new treasurer Nick Candy have met US billionaire Elon Musk at Donald Trump's Florida retreat.
The party said the pair had "learned a great deal from Musk about the Trump ground game" during an hour-long meeting at Mar-A-Lago on Monday.
It added that they would hold "ongoing discussions on other areas", although no details were offered.
It comes amid speculation that X owner Mr Musk, a prominent supporter and major donor to Trump's re-election campaign, could donate to Reform UK.
Earlier this month, Farage said that although Mr Musk was a political supporter, he had not asked for a donation and "one has never been offered".
Farage posted a picture of himself alongside Mr Musk and Mr Candy, who was announced as party treasurer last week, standing in front of a painting of Trump that hangs inside the Mar-A-Lago complex.
Reform UK thanked the US president-elect for allowing them to use the building for the meeting, adding it showed the "special relationship" between the UK and US was "alive and well".
Mr Candy - a former Conservative donor - has said he exchanged messages with Mr Musk after his appointment was announced, but has refused to be drawn on any negotiations over a potential donation. After Mr Candy's appointment, Farage said "we don't know anything about Elon Musk other than he is supportive of our position," adding: "If people offer us money legally, we'll take it."
Mr Musk has become a prominent critic of Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and has backed Reform UK to form the next government in posts on his social media platform X.
As a US citizen, the billionaire cannot make personal political donations in the UK.
But there have been reports suggesting a donation could be made through the British branch of X.
'For the birds'
Farage has dismissed newspaper speculation that a donation from Musk could be as large as $100m (£78m), adding that the idea that X could give a donation of that size to any UK-based party was "for the birds".
The Reform UK leader has said the UK's election watchdog "would take a view that a donation that came from a company would have to be proportional to the size of the company in this country".
Mr Musk, who was born in South Africa, donated $75m to US President-elect Donald Trump's re-election bid, with $72m of that going to a political action committee he set up called America PAC.
Mr Musk's father Errol has suggested the SpaceX and Tesla mogul might even be prepared to become a UK citizen to make a $100m donation to Reform UK.
Earlier this month, he told GB News: "I'm eligible for British citizenship, so is he, I suppose."
Mr Musk is yet to comment on the meeting with Farage and Mr Candy.
