Concerns are also growing in the UK after tech billionaire Elon Musk has become increasingly interested in British politics and appears to be favoring far-right embattled MP Nigel Farage.
Also read | Elon Musk summoned by UK government over provocative X posts as turmoil grips country
Mr Musk’s appointment to a new role in the incoming US administration of Donald Trump has raised concerns that the world’s richest man will seek to influence future relations between London and Washington.
On Wednesday, Mr Farage, who heads the upstart anti-immigration Reform UK party, said he was in talks with Mr Musk about donating to the party.
Farage told the Telegraph that “financial issues were discussed” when he met with X owners at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday.
“Negotiations will continue on that point,” the Eurosceptic wrote, in comments likely to upset the ruling Labor Party and the main opposition Conservative Party.
Newspaper reports have suggested that Mr Musk is preparing to donate up to $100 million to the reforms, but Mr Farage told the BBC that the pair had not discussed the numbers.
Mr Farage added that Mr Musk “described Labor and the Conservative Party as a single party, leaving us without any doubt that Mr Musk was right behind us”.
Mr Farage said he needed to find a way to ensure Mr Musk’s donations were made “legally through a British company”, but the idea, which was floated a few weeks ago, has already been approved by British MPs. It’s sending shivers down my spine.
Reform Britain won five seats in Britain’s 650-member parliament in July’s general election, losing support from both Labor and the Conservative Party.
police state
Mr Farage is already eyeing the next general election, which needs to be held by 2029 at the latest.
Conservative party co-chairman Dominic Johnson said such donations by Mr Musk amounted to “essentially buying” one of Britain’s political parties.
Russell Foster, senior lecturer in British and international politics, said: “People like Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Nigel Farage are like the New Right, but they really hate the Old Right.” , said this was seen as being too liberal. at King’s College.
This old right “was not killed by the left or the center. They were killed by the rise of more right-wing movements.”
Until now, Mr Musk has been content to target Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor government with a series of scathing comments on social network X.
“The British people are tired of a tyrannical police state,” he rants in November.
At the height of this summer’s anti-immigration riots, Britain’s worst in years, Musk wrote in X magazine that “civil war is inevitable” and accused the government of being too harsh in its response to rioters. did.
This has helped it gain support among British social network users and far-right influencers.
In September, Musk also advised people not to visit the UK, which is “releasing convicted pedophiles to jail people for their social media posts”.
“He seems to believe he has some sort of mission to the establishment,” Foster said.
pragmatism
Some observers believe Mr. Musk is also wary of the British government’s plans to tighten laws regulating social networks.
Mr. Starmer said the riots were fueled by online content and later did not invite Mr. Musk to an investor meeting, which the SpaceX and Tesla CEOs took as an insult, people close to him said. .
Mr Musk and Mr Trump have been inseparable since the US presidential election, and their “bromance” could complicate Labor’s efforts to strengthen ties with the Republican Party.
Labor has historically moved closer to the Democratic Party, but Starmer, who met with Trump in New York in September, is opening a new chapter in the party’s relationship with the Republican Party.
A Downing Street spokesperson said last month: “The Prime Minister looks forward to working with President Trump and his entire team, including Elon Musk.”
“Starmer understands very well that he cannot alienate the next president of the United States,” Foster said.
“I think we have to maintain a special relationship. So it doesn’t matter who’s in the White House. We’re always going to continue to be good to Washington.”
Labor politician and former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson said it would be “unwise” for Britain to ignore Mr Musk and called on Labor to “suck their pride”.
He said Farage was “a beachhead for President Trump and for Elon Musk and others. We have to be pragmatic and pragmatic about this.”
issued – December 19, 2024 8:26 AM IST
