Elon Musk is reportedly planning to donate $100 million to Nigel Farage in a bid to shake up British politics ahead of the next election.
The Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) boss, who has openly supported Donald Trump in recent months and spoke at a Republican rally, is said to be considering backing the far-right Reform UK party.
Acording to the Times, Musk’s goal could be to help Farage become prime minister.
The billionaire may be able to sidestep overseas donation laws by funneling the £78 million through the UK branch of X, which he owns.
Mr Farage told the Times: “All I can say is that I’m in touch with him and he is very supportive of my policy positions.
“We both share a friendship with Donald Trump and Trump has said good things about me in front of Musk. We’ve got a good relationship with him.”
Mr Musk gleefully responded to news that Dame Andrea Jenkyns has defected to Reform and tweeted an enthusiastic “yes” to the prospect of a Farage government.
Reform won more than four million votes in July’s election and has five MPs to show for it, including Mr Farage and party deputy Richard Tice.
The Conservative Party has just elected the right leaning Kemi Badenoch as its leader and will be under pressure to hold onto voters – especially if Reform have such a huge budget to spend on advertising.
Mr Farage has stopped short of confirming the donation.
The reporter has sent an email to Twitter’s press office. However, one of Mr Musk’s first moves as boss was to install a bounceback with all requests for comment being greeted with a poo emoji.