Former Tory Tim Montgomerie, who switched from the Conservatives to Reform last month, reveals what he thinks the figure will be.
With tech billionaire and Trump supporter Elon Musk reported to be considering making a huge donation to the hard-right Reform UK, questions continue to be asked about just how much Musk is willing to pump into Farage’s party.
Some have put the figure as high as $100 million, with Reform UK leader Farage and the party’s treasurer, Nick Candy, meeting Musk this week at Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago.
Musk has come in for heavy criticism in recent weeks and months for allowing his X platform, formerlyTwitter, to become a site where misinformation and extremist content is published without consequence. He himself has shared misinformation about the UK, yet none of this of course matters to Reform.
Now former Tory Tim Montgomerie, who switched from the Conservatives to Reform last month, told Newsnight that the true figure was likely to be much lower than the reported $100m, but still “unprecedented in British politics”.
He said: “The $100 million was for America, a country five times bigger than us.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised though if he gave the order of £20 million, which is unprecedented in British politics.
“And I think it probably will happen, and why I think it probably will happen is Elon Musk has clearly got the bug of politics. He’s enjoyed and is committed to what he has done in America, and he made a difference.
“So I think he has an ideological affinity with Reform, which is part of what motivates him. But we’ve also got to remember that he’s a tech guy. He is fascinated by technology and the changes it is having in our world.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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