Why Elon Musk is wrong and Farage is the right man to lead Reform - Kelvin MacKenzie

Musk’s money (I read somewhere he’s worth £244billion) and his incredible commercial and retail mind makes him a fascinating man with a fascinating mind. But it doesn’t make him a political leader.

He says he is a ‘’free speech absolutist’’ and that means there is no barrier between what he thinks and what he says. You couldn’t operate like that at a family gathering and nor can you act like that I politics.

I’m most fascinated to see which side President Trump comes down on.

My bet is that he sides with Farage. Trump has known him for years and clearly like him as Farage spends as much time at Trump’s Florida home in Mar-a-Lago as he does in Clacton. Who would blame him?

Although grateful to Musk for throwing X and his millions behind him, Trump will recognise that Musk and he are certain to fall out big time as rump will refuse to be as Right wing as Musk would like.

Let’s be honest Farage is the most interesting politician of the Right since Thatcher. I first met him in the early 90s when he was running a one-man band hostile to Europe. He had an umbilical cord to ordinary people (something Cameron never possessed) and single-handedly achieved Brexit.

That success didn’t go to his head. He continued to work hard and slowly as the Tory party imploded (the same is happening with Labour) he hoovered up voters who felt nobody was talking for them. Today he speaks for anything up to 25% of the country and has surrounded himself with good people like Richard Tice and Rupert Lowe and is putting together a team across the country which should pay big dividends in the country council elections in May.

I am impressed at the way Farage is dealing with the Musk attack. His response on twitter has been calm and measured but making the point Tommy Robinson would never be welcome in Reform. That was impressive as he could have turned it into a nasty spat.

That would have been an error but Farage is a politician only Starmer and Badenoch would have benefited from such an outburst.

Clearly a fight with Musk is not good for Farage but better it happens now than in the run-up to a General Election. I’m hopeful that having made his point Musk keeps schtum as it would be unhelpful.

There must now be a question mark over whether the Musk is still thinking of sending money to Reform. I wonder if he’s thinking of saying he will send over £50million on the proviso that Farage steps down.

Reform should stand up that kind of blackmail and say you should stuff your money. They have a fine leader and were he to be replaced – and I do accept graveyards are full of the irreplaceable- I would expect polling to show a drop back to 16%.

That would mean Starmer would almost certainly get back in by teaming with the Lib-dims and nobody wants that.

Farage is the best man to run Reform and it would be helpful if Musk directed his fire to the real enemies of the country- Starmer and his chums.