Elon Musk has met Nigel Farage and Nick Candy, Reform UK’s new treasurer, at Donald Trump’s home, Mar-a-Lago, reviving speculation the billionaire could fund the hard-right party.
After the meeting on Monday, Reform released photos of Musk sitting with Farage and Candy, and standing with them beneath a portrait of a young Trump at the US president-elect’s Florida home.
The tech billionaire, who has waged an increasingly personal campaign against Keir Starmer and the Labour party, earlier this month denied a report that he was planning to make a £78m donation to Reform.
However, there will now be increased speculation he could intervene in UK politics and help Reform’s prospects before next year’s local elections.
The party released a statement by the Reform leader and Candy in which they said they had met Musk for an hour.
“We learned a great deal about the Trump ground game and will have ongoing discussions on other areas,” it added. “We only have one more chance left to save the west and we can do great things together. Our thanks also to President Trump for allowing us to use Mar-a-Lago for this historic meeting. The special relationship is alive and well.”
Farage and Candy did not see Trump, who was meeting tech billionaires on a day when the CEO of the Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank appeared alongside him to announce plans to invest $100bn in the US.
However, the Guardian understands they did meet the US vice-president elect, JD Vance, who is the favourite to run as the Republican candidate in the 2028 presidential election. Vance, who was a venture capitalist before entering politics, has close to links to US tech billionaires, including Peter Thiel.
Candy, a billionaire property developer and former Conservative donor, was unveiled by Farage last week as Reform’s new treasurer, with the task of raising funds to fight the next general election.
While electoral laws in Britain stipulate all donations and loans to political parties worth more than £500 must come from donors registered in the UK, there are avenues Musk could use to back Reform.
Options include going through the UK arm of his social media company, X, or by securing UK citizenship, which his father, Errol, says he is eligible for because his grandmother was British.
