‘We Have the Momentum’ — Reform Allies Rally Around Farage as Leader After Musk Demands Removal
Allies of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have backed his leadership after coming under assault by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who demanded he be ousted as leader.
A flurry of posts over the past week concerning British politics—in an apparent attempt to shift the conversation away from his controversial support of supposedly ‘skilled’ mass migration to the United States—culminated in Mr Musk calling for Nigel Farage to be replaced at the helm of the party he created, Reform UK.
Despite having led the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union in 2016, one of the most significant achievements of the global populist movement, the world’s richest man claimed that the Brexit leader “doesn’t have what it takes” after Farage rejected calls to allow jailed activist Tommy Robinson into the party.
Mr Farage’s allies were quick to note that under his leadership, after coming out of political retirement over the summer, Reform has clear momentum as it seeks to topple the two main Westminster establishment parties. Reform is surging in the polls and reportedly surpassing the centuries-old Conservatives in paid party members, another historic achievement.
Reform MP Lee Anderson said: “Nigel put his faith in me and I will put my faith in him. We have the momentum, we have a plan and we have a man who can lead us to victory. Get behind us, put your trust in Nigel and Reform UK and together we will take our country back.”
Anderson was ousted from the so-called Conservative Party in February of last year after refusing to apologise for claiming that “Islamists” had “got control” of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and then-Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. He became one of the first major defections to Reform and its first MP.
The Ashfield MP suggested that the controversy surrounding Robinson was a result of the “media stirring things up” as Reform surges in the polls. Anderson agreed with Farage in distancing himself and the party from Robinson, noting that were the jailed activist to join the party, it would only serve to foment a media “frenzy” that would “put people off from joining or getting involved” and ultimately serve as a distraction against the goal of taking power at the 2029 general election.
Fellow Reform MP Rupert Lowe also expressed support for the party leader, saying: “Nigel is leader of Reform. He made Brexit happen, and for that I will always be grateful. I look forward to working with Nigel and the entire team to continue to hold this incompetent Labour Party to account, democratise our own party, win the next election and form a Reform Government.”
While Lowe thanked Musk for helping bring attention to the Muslim child rape grooming gang as well as for his “kind comments” suggesting he take over the party, Lowe said: “I just want to do what is right for my constituency and my country – that is my only interest.”
Meanwhile, after calling for Farage to be ousted as Reform leader, Musk also heaped praise on Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservatives, over her calls for an inquiry into the handling and coverup of the Muslim child rape grooming gang scandal. While Mr Farage has been highlighting the issue for over a decade, previous Conservative governments have faced accusations of hiding the truth from the public.
In 2020, for example, the Home Office, then under the control of Tory Home Secretary Priti Patel, refused to release its findings on the “characteristics” of the grooming gangs, claiming that it was “not in the public interest” to do so. Conversely, Mr Farage has faced heavy criticism from the legacy media for showing that the grooming scandal demonstrated the failures of the multiculturalism project promoted by both Labour and the Tories.
Badenoch’s position on immigration appears to be more in line with Musk’s, however, with the Tory MP previously boasting that she helped remove “the annual limits on work visas”, which played a key role in mass migration reaching record heights under so-called Conservative governments, despite previous promises to cut migration to the tens of thousands.
Similarly, Mr Musk has come out as one of the top proponents of H1-B visas to the United States, drawing steep backlash from the America First movement. The tech billionaire, whose companies have reportedly taken advantage of foreign labour after laying off American workers, vowed last month to “go to war” with anyone who opposed the work visa programme.
This would appear to put the Tesla chief at odds with one of the key pillars of Farage’s political programme, namely reducing immigration to Britain, with Reform calling for a “freeze” to all non-essential migration at the last election.
While criticising mass migration and multiculturalism was once a third rail of British politics, Mr Farage’s long efforts to shape the country’s debate towards a pro-sovereigntist position has begun to catch on. According to a recent survey from YouGov, around 70 per cent of the British public now believe that immigration has been too high to Britain, the highest level ever recorded by the pollster.
At the same time, Reform has surged in the polls, with multiple surveys now predicting that the upstart party will vastly expand its presence in Parliament. Bookmakers have also predicted that Farage is the most likely person to become the next prime minister.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on X: Follow @KurtZindulka or e-mail to: kzindulka@breitbart.com
Jesus Christ is King
Comments are closed.