By William Schomberg

LONDON (Reuters) – Elon Musk stated that Nigel Farage should resign as leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform UK party, signaling an abrupt withdrawal of support for the Brexit campaigner attempting to disrupt the British political landscape.

> “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes,” Musk remarked on X, his social media platform, shortly after Farage referred to him as a friend making Reform appear “cool.”

Musk, who is closely allied with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, had seemingly supported Farage and even posed for a photograph with him last month.

In the last July national election, Reform garnered 4.1 million votes (14% of the total) and secured five parliamentary seats.

Farage previously mentioned he was negotiating with Musk regarding potential donations to help Reform rival the prevailing Labour and Conservative parties.

However, Farage distanced himself from Musk’s remarks supporting Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson), who is imprisoned for contempt of court.

Farage reacted to Musk’s Sunday post: “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.”

In the past month, Musk endorsed the Alternative for Germany, an anti-immigration and anti-Islamic party categorized as right-wing extremist by German security services, ahead of elections in February.

Musk has also attempted to sway British politics, consistently criticizing Prime Minister Keir Starmer following anti-immigration riots last summer.

Recently, he advocated for a national inquiry into the prosecution of cases concerning Pakistani heritage men sexually exploiting underage girls, a matter previously managed by Starmer.

A 2014 inquiry revealed that at least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual exploitation in Rotherham, northern England, from 1997 to 2013.

The Times reported that Starmer was expected to respond to Musk’s criticism at a news conference, clarifying his past actions regarding the prosecution of paedophile gangs in 2013. However, he was unlikely to directly criticize Musk due to the billionaire’s connections with Trump.

Starmer’s office declined to comment.

On Sunday, UK health minister Wes Streeting defended Starmer and cabinet member Jess Phillips, who faced Musk’s criticism for suggesting that inquiries into gang rape cases should be managed by local authorities.

> “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 and paedophiles,” Streeting stated to the BBC.