Labour fears grow as Reform eyes victories in local election battleground
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Nigel Farage’s party is building on the unpopularity of the government and is set to challenge it in next year’s polls. For many Labour and MPs and party officials, it was a nightmarish image that encapsulated the forces buffeting politics across the west.
![[Nigel Farage talking to Andrea Jenkyns]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1d2e5522d16ace9ef895bdcf5f3ac7390a003cc4/0_170_5097_3058/master/5097.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
A gleeful Nigel Farage standing next to Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, having discussed the possibility of a political donation big enough to bankroll any British party, with cash to spare. At Musk’s other shoulder stood Nick Candy, the former Tory donor and now Reform UK’s treasurer. And hanging above them all, a portrait of the political disrupter-in-chief, Donald Trump.
When the picture emerged on Tuesday, hours after a meeting between Musk and the Reform duo at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida estate, it inevitably kicked off demands for a change in Britain’s porous political donation laws. For years, figures across the legal, security and political worlds have come to the unanimous view that the rules are far too lax. Yet by the end of another fraught political week, attitudes towards the issue inside the government were hardening.
According to a source familiar with discussions, a common view began to emerge among key figures in Keir Starmer’s team. Yes, the government should eventually pursue a manifesto pledge to strengthen donation rules. But any kneejerk reaction – or specific laws targeting a Musk donation – could backfire.
