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Last week’s meeting of Elon Musk, Nigel Farage and Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy wasn’t just a meeting of Donald Trump fans. It was a meeting of minds.
Immigration, culture wars and shrinking the public sector feature prominently on their political agendas, developed under the umbrella of Trump’s Maga vision.
“We only have one more chance to save the West and we can do great things together,” Farage said afterwards.
It also revived speculation that Musk could donate up to $100m (£80m) to Reform, even if there are signs voters may oppose such a move.
A ban on wealthy foreigners being able to donate large sums of money to British political parties received 55% support, according to a Survation poll for campaign group 38 Degrees.
When asked specifically about Musk, two-thirds (66%) said he should not become influential in British politics. Even among reform voters, 51% did not want Musk to become influential.
Money aside, however, the ideological common ground between Musk and Reform is clear in some areas.
Immigration
Musk is a vocal critic of American immigration policy, making him a natural ideological partner for Reform. Referring to the US-Mexico border this year, he said “large-scale uncontrolled immigration is a recipe for disaster” and called for a “secure southern border.” However, he also called for “greatly accelerating legal immigration,” reflecting the U.S. tech industry’s concerns about labor needs.
Immigration is a central concern for Farage and Reform. His main promise in his manifesto-style “contract” with voters during this year’s UK general election was to freeze all “non-essential” immigration.
The second promise was to detain and deport “illegal immigrants,” including sending them in small boats “back to France.”
Reduce government
Musk – whose anti-government ax goes back to his own sense that regulations have hampered his car and space rocket manufacturing businesses – has been given license by Donald Trump to cut $500 billion from the US federal budget.
He and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy head a new Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, named with a nod to Musk’s preferred cryptocurrency, dogecoin.
Farage was quick to back this up. Trump’s plans to radically cut the US public sector and appoint Musk to “lay off a large number of people” were a model for what needed to happen in the UK, the reform leader said last month.
Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, said part of Reform’s appeal to Musk was his status as a “disruptor,” echoing the character of a serial entrepreneur who doesn’t shy away from confrontation.
“The main attraction of the reform for Musk is that they are disruptors and he likes disruptors,” he said. “He just likes the fact that they’re changing things.”
Rights and the ‘war on wokeness’
Musk has said he made a vow to “destroy” what he describes as “the awakened mind virus” after his estrangement from his trans daughter, Vivian Wilson.
The billionaire has repeatedly returned to the issue in his tweets, waging other culture wars over diversity regulations.
Farage put issues and arguments around gender on the front page of his party’s general election manifesto earlier this year, referring to a “divisive woke ideology” that he said had captured public institutions.
Reform promised to ban what it called “transgender ideology” in schools within the government’s first 100 days. He also pledged to replace the Equality Act and said he would scrap diversity, equality and inclusion rules.
“Clearly, Musk has a bee in the bonnet on the trans issue in particular and the so-called woke mind virus in general, and that fits well with the UK’s reformist position on the culture wars,” Bale said.
net zero
As CEO of the world’s leading electric car brand, Musk has strong environmental credentials. But Musk has lately made more ambivalent noises about ecological issues. In a discussion with Trump about X in August, Musk said it was “wrong” to vilify the fossil fuel sector.
In terms of existential threat, Musk has also shown more interest in low birth rates and artificial intelligence as problems that require the world’s attention. This was a change from his view in 2018, when he said climate change was “the biggest threat facing humanity in this century.”
Reform advocates advocate rolling back environmentally friendly policies. He has promised to scrap the UK’s net zero emissions target by 2050 – where the UK removes as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it emits – because it is “crippling our economy”.
The party is also committed to fast-tracking North Sea oil and gas licences, as well as doing more to enable fracking.
Russia
Musk has moved from an initial supporter of Ukraine to a more ambiguous position, which has included trolling the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In 2022, the billionaire sparked outrage when he presented a “peace plan” in which he argued that Ukraine should adopt neutral status and abandon its bid to join NATO.
While Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service was used to help Ukraine after the February 2022 Russian invasion, there was also controversy last year when it emerged that Musk had rejected a Ukrainian request to activate the system to help in a surprise offensive.
Farage has faced criticism for his claims that Ukraine could not defeat Russia and his questioning of the United States’ decision to authorize kyiv to use long-range missiles.
The reformist leader’s previous comments, such as that the EU and NATO had “provoked” the Russian invasion of Ukraine by expanding eastwards, have also put him at odds with other dominant political parties in Britain.