Elon Musk has switched his support to Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom's Reform UK party, after falling out over the billionaire's calls for the right-wing activist's release.
Musk said on Sunday that Reform UK should replace its leader after Farage distanced himself from anti-Islamist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.
“The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn't have what he needs,” Musk wrote on his X page.
Musk last week falsely claimed that Yaxley-Lennon, who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court, was arrested for “telling the truth” about the child care scandal that rocked the UK in the 2010s.
Yaxley-Lennon received the sentence after pleading guilty to breaching a defamation ban against a refugee Syrian schoolboy who successfully sued him for defamation.
When asked about Musk's support for Yaxley-Lennon on Friday, Farage said the activist had been jailed for contempt of court, not for opposing gangs.
“We are a political party that wants to win the next election. (Yaxley-Lennon) is not what we need,” Farage told GB News.
Musk's estrangement from Farage comes after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO publicly backed Reform UK, saying it was the only group that could save Britain.
Farage last month told the BBC that Reform UK was in “open discussions” with Musk about him donating to the party.
Responding to Musk on Sunday, Farage said the billionaire's comments were “shocking” but he would not change them.
“Well, this is amazing! Elon is a wonderful person but on this I'm afraid I don't agree,” he said on X.
“My opinion is still that Tommy Robinson is not suitable for Reform and I will not sell my principles.”
Musk, who has been repeatedly described as the richest man in the world, has been involved in politics in various countries and has increased in frequency since he supported US President-elect Donald Trump during the election campaign.
On Thursday, he said that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had failed to prosecute criminals when he was the chief opposition figure and should be prosecuted “for complicity in the biggest crime in British history”.
UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Musk's views on the matter were “ill-conceived and misinformed”.
A 2014 study found that nearly 1,400 children were sexually abused in Rotherham, northern England, between 1997 and 2013.
A report by academic Alexis Jay found that the town's authorities had repeatedly failed to act on allegations of harassment, with some council staff showing “fear of identifying their source for fear of being perceived as racist”.
The perpetrators of the Rotherham crimes were overwhelmingly described by victims as being South Asian, although a 2020 study commissioned by the Home Office found that the majority of perpetrators of public child sexual abuse were white.
Musk, who is expected to lead the Department of Government Efficiency in the incoming Trump administration, last month backed the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, which German security agencies have called a dubious organization.