Open Editor's Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite stories for this weekly newsletter.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said it would be “counterintuitive” for Nigel Farage to accept a big donation from Elon Musk, saying “people don't want to see politicians bought”.
Badenochcriticized by some Tories for his poor start to his career, he faces a growing political threat from Farage's populist Reform UK. Farage has been talking to the tech billionaire about the party's offer.
The Conservative leader said he supported competition, adding: “I think Elon Musk is giving a party, money to a rival party, that's a challenge for me to make sure I'm raising the same.”
Nick Candy, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, has promised Britain “political disruption like we have never seen before”. he tells the Financial Times he lined up other multi-billion dollar backers in addition to Musk.
Referring to Musk, Badenoch said: “I don't believe he will give that money but it doesn't matter if he does.
He added: “Politics in the US is very different to politics in the UK. The people of this country do not like to see politicians bought. I think that would be wrong. “
Last week, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith encouraged Musk to take over the other is looking at the Tories before donating to Reform, saying his party was the main opposition to Sir Keir Starmer's Labor government.
Badenoch became Tory leader on November 2 and now it has been almost six months since the Conservatives lost the general election to Labour, but at the moment he has refused to set specific policies to revive his party.
But he insisted it was “a race not a sprint” and urged voters to be patient, saying there was plenty of time for him to set a clear policy ahead of the election, due in 2029.
However, Badenoch faces an uphill battle in the short term, with Reform UK closing in on the Tories. in recent comments and threatens to make progress at the expense of the Conservatives in local elections scheduled for May next year.
The Tory leader accused Reform of giving voters “easy answers” and said it “hasn't thought it all through”. He told the BBC's Today Program: “What I'm going to say to people is, aren't you tired of people lying to you?”
The Tory leader has set out broad principles for his party to follow, including a belief in a smaller country, lower taxes and a tougher grip on immigration.
“I think and what people will get from the new leadership under me is thinking about conservatism, not knee-jerk analysis,” Badenoch said.
He admitted that the Conservatives had “let people down” over immigration, suggesting that the Whitehall machine or legal forecasters had persuaded ministers to loosen the controls.
Net immigration has reached 900,000 in one year under the Conservatives, according to the latest figures. Badenoch called for a cap in absolute numbers but declined to say where it should be placed.
“I think it's going well,” Badenoch said of his first weeks as Conservative leader. “I expected it to be worse.” He said the group had “disarmed in the internecine fight”.
Badenoch added: “Seeing a Labor government reminds everyone who the real adversary is.”