Elon Musk said Reform UK ‘needs a new leader’ as Nigel Farage ‘doesn’t have what it takes’ – just hours after the fawning MP for Clacton called the billionaire a ‘hero’ and said his support made the party ‘look cool’

Elon Musk has dramatically called for Nigel Farage to go in a huge embarrassment for the Reform UK leader.

The billionaire claimed Mr Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” and said the party needs a new person in charge. The unexpected call for change came just hours after a fawning Mr Farage branded him a “hero” and said his support makes his party “look cool”. Musk posted on Twitter /X: “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.”

He later suggested that Reform MP Rupert Lowe could be the best bet to succeed him. Musk wrote: “I have not met Rupert Lowe, but his statements online that I have read so far make a lot of sense.”

It follows weeks of cosying up together, with Mr Farage suggesting Musk could plough millions of pounds into his party. In a TV interview screened this morning, the Reform leader refused to condemn him for an att@ck on Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips which have been branded a “disgraceful smear”.

In an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, the Reform UK boss said: “He may well give us money. Whether he does or not, I think what he gives us with huge numbers of young people, he makes us look cool.”

Just hours earlier Mr Farage said Musk’s support makes Reform UK ‘look cool’ ( 
Image:
Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
In recent days Musk, a key advisor to Donald Trump, has said Tommy Robinson should be freed and voiced his support for Germany’s far-right AfD party. Following Musk’s intervention Mr Farage retorted: “Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual but on this I am afraid I disagree. My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles.”

Musk has previously given his backing to Reform, meeting Mr Farage and new treasurer Nick Candy at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last month.

At the time Mr Farage dubbed the meeting “historic”. Before the bromance soured Mr Farage refused to hit out at his mega-rich ally, who launched an inflammatory at@ck on the Labour politicians last week. He said the billionaire had used “very tough terms” but “in public life, tough things get said”.

Asked if he was reluctant to criticise Mr Musk because of a potential donation, Mr Farage said: “I think I made it perfectly clear that I don’t agree with everything he stands for, but I do believe in free speech. I think he’s a hero, and I said that well before any potential money was offered.”

But he hinted at disagreements between the two, stating: “The fact that Musk supports me and supports Reform doesn’t mean as two grown ups, we have to agree with everything the other says.”

Elon Musk has rounded on Nigel Farage ( 
Image:
PA)
Mr Musk sparked outrage by claiming Home Office Minister Jess Phillips should be j@iled and Mr Starmer should be ousted after the Government rejected a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting accused Musk of a “disgraceful smear”, and said ministers are focusing on implementing recommendations from a string of previous inquiries. He said: “They’re people who have done in their professional lives more than most people will ever do to lock up paedophiles, rapists, wife beaters and every other kind of scumbag.

“As director of prosecutions, Keir Starmer opened up historic cases going after people who thought they’d gotten away with it. He put in place specialist prosecutors to make sure that we could build the evidence to put rapists behind bars.”

And hitting out at Musk’s att@cks on Ms Phillips, Mr Streeting told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “It is a disgraceful smear of a great woman who has spent her life supporting victims of the kind of violence that Elon Musk and others say that they’re against.

“And it’s all very well sitting there, and I’m not just talking about Musk – I’m talking about armchair critics on social media – It’s all very easy to sit there and fire off something in haste and click send, when people like Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips have done the hard yards of actually locking up wife beaters, rapists, paedophiles.”

He said: “Their critics are not fit to touch their records.”