Donation by billionaire to Reform UK would be ‘counterproductive’, says Tory leader

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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed it might be “counterproductive” if Nigel Farage accepted a big donation from Elon Musk, saying “people don’t necessarily like to see politics being bought”.

Badenoch, criticised by some Tories for her low-profile start in her job, is facing an increasing political threat from Farage’s populist Reform UK. Farage has been talking to the tech billionaire about a party donation.

The Conservative leader said she supported competition, adding: “I think that if Elon Musk is giving a party, a competitor party money, then that is a challenge for me to make sure that I raise the same.”

Nick Candy, Reform’s new treasurer, has promised Britain “political disruption like we have never seen before”, telling the Financial Times he was lining up several other billionaire backers in addition to Musk.

Referring to Musk, Badenoch said: “I don’t believe that he is going to give that money but it doesn’t matter if he does.”

She added: “Politics in the US is very different from politics in the UK. People in this country don’t necessarily like to see politics being bought. I think it would be potentially counterproductive.”

Last week, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith urged Musk to take another look at the Tories before donating to Reform, saying his party was the most effective opposition to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government.

Badenoch became Tory leader on November 2 and it is now almost six months since the Conservatives lost the general election to Labour, but she has so far refused to set out specific policies to revive her party.

But she insisted that it was “a marathon not a sprint” and urged voters to be patient, saying that there was plenty of time for her to set out a detailed policy prospectus before an election, which must be held by 2029.

However, Badenoch faces a tough fight in the short term, with Reform UK closing in on the Tories in recent opinion polls and threatening to make big advances at the Conservatives’ expense in local elections scheduled for May next year.

The Tory leader accused Reform of offering voters “easy answers” and said it “hasn’t thought it all through”. She told the BBC’s Today programme: “What I would say to people is, aren’t you tired of people who tell you lies?”

The Tory leader has set out broad principles for her party to follow, including a belief in a smaller state, lower taxes and a tighter grip on immigration.

“I do the thinking and what people are going to get with new leadership under me is thoughtful Conservatism, not knee-jerk analysis,” Badenoch said.

She admitted the Conservatives had “let people down” over immigration, suggesting that the Whitehall machine or official forecasters had persuaded ministers to loosen controls.

Net migration topped 900,000 in a single year under the Conservatives, according to recent figures. Badenoch has called for a cap on total numbers but has refused to say where it should be set.

“I think it’s going well,” Badenoch said of her first weeks as Conservative leader. “I was expecting it to be much worse.” She said the party had “downed tools on the internecine warfare”.

Badenoch added: “Seeing a Labour government reminds everyone who the real opponent is.”