JASON GROVES: Will Elon Musk's feud with PM lead to gift that would turn politics in UK on its head?
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Will he or won’t he? That is the question keeping Conservative and Labour strategists awake at night as Elon Musk dangles the prospect of handing Nigel Farage’s Reform party the biggest donation in British political history. There is not much doubt that he can. The world’s richest man has a £365 billion fortune. As a foreign citizen he is barred from donating directly to political parties in this country. But there is no limit on how much his companies in this country can donate.
![[Keir Starmer does not shout about it, but the party’s biggest donation at the recent election was a £4 million gift from a hedge fund whose parent company is based in the tax-friendly Cayman Islands]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/00/93296979-14208041-image-a-74_1734566579737.jpg)
The potential size of the donation – a reported $100 million, or £80 million – would dwarf anything seen in this country before. To put it in context, the main parties were allowed to spend a total of £35 million each at this year’s general election.
![[Mr Musk responded to Mr Farage's post about their meeting on his X social media site]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/00/93239077-14208041-Mr_Musk_responded_to_Mr_Farage_s_post_about_their_meeting_on_his-a-33_1734568170836.jpg)
One former Tory cabinet minister said a donation on this scale – or even half this size – would ‘change everything’. ‘It would turn British politics on its head,’ the source said. ‘It would allow Farage to build the kind of ground operation that you need to win elections and it would give him the momentum to carry on attracting defectors from us. Most of our members are already Reform-lite – this could tip a lot of them over the edge.’.
![[Nick Candy and his former pop-star wife Holly Valance were photographed at Reform's conference in Birmingham in September]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/00/93235967-14208041-Mr_Candy_and_his_former_pop_star_wife_Holly_Valance_were_photogr-a-34_1734568211196.jpg)
It is not just the Tories who are worried. Labour MPs in the Red Wall are already on the verge of panic over the rise of Reform. Of the 98 seats in which Nigel Farage’s party came second in July, 89 are now held by Labour. No wonder it is Labour MPs leading the call for a clampdown on big foreign donations.
