FILE PHOTO: British MP and leader of the Reform UK political party, Nigel Farage speaks at the New York Young Republican Club's Annual Gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, U.S., December 15, 2024. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) -Elon Musk said Nigel Farage should quit as leader of Britain's right-wing Reform UK party in an abrupt withdrawal of support by the U.S. billionaire for the Brexit campaigner who is trying to shake up the British political establishment again.
"The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes," Musk said on his social media platform X on Sunday, a few hours after Farage described him as a friend who made Reform look "cool".
Musk - a close ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump - had seemingly backed Farage and posed for a photograph with him last month.
Reform won 4.1 million votes or 14% of the total and five seats in parliament in last July's national election.
Farage has previously said he is in negotiations with Musk about the billionaire donating to Reform to help it challenge the dominant Labour and Conservative parties.
But Farage has distanced himself from comments made by Musk in support of British anti-immigration and anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, who is serving a prison sentence for contempt of court.
Farage responded to Musk's post on Sunday saying: "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."
Last month, Musk endorsed the Alternative for Germany, an anti-immigration, anti-Islamic party labelled as right-wing-extremist by German security services, ahead of national elections in February.
Musk has previously sought to influence British politics and has criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer repeatedly since anti-immigration riots last summer.
The Tesla founder last week backed calls for a national inquiry into the handling of cases of rape by men of Pakistani heritage of underage girls by the government's prosecution service which Starmer previously ran.
A 2014 inquiry found at least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual exploitation in Rotherham, northern England, between 1997 and 2013.
The Times said Starmer was expected to address the criticism at a news conference on Monday by saying he gave the green light to prosecuting paedophile gangs in 2013 and reformed the way that child abuse cases are handled by prosecutors.
But he was unlikely to criticise Musk directly given the billionaire's proximity to Trump, the newspaper said.
A spokesperson in Starmer's office declined to comment.
On Sunday, UK health minister Wes Streeting defended Starmer and another member of his cabinet, Jess Phillips, who incurred Musk's ire for reportedly saying that any fresh inquiry into another gang rape case should be handled by the local authority.
"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 told the BBC.
(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
