Nigel Farage meets Elon Musk and JD Vance at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort

Nigel Farage and his party treasurer have met with Elon Musk at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort for the first time since rumours surfaced of a multi-million donation from the tech tycoon.

The Reform UK leader and Nick Candy, the billionaire husband of singer Holly Valance who will take up the fundraising role for Mr Farage's party in the new year, met on Monday 16 December, the party said.

The meeting comes following reports that Mr Musk was considering donating £78m to Mr Farage - an ally of Mr Trump - as a "f*** you Starmer payment".

Later Mr Farage tweeted he had also met JD Vance, who is set to become vice president.

The Times reported last month that if Mr Musk does decide to make the donation, he would do so through the British arm of his social media firm X, formerly Twitter, to circumvent UK rules that prevent foreign donations to a political party.

Politics latest: Labour won't compensate women hit by state pension age change

Soon after his election victory, president-elect Trump confirmed that Mr Musk, the Tesla and X owner who is also the world's richest man, will co-lead the new department of government efficiency, known as DOGE for short.

Both Mr Farage and Mr Candy have dismissed the reports of a potential donation, with the Reform leader telling Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby it was a "story without any basis in fact".

"Elon Musk is very supportive of what Reform is trying to do, supportive of me personally. And we've got the connections with him, and Nick's got good connections with him as well.

"He's giving us political support. We have, at this stage, neither solicited or been offered donations."

However, the pair have both said they would not turn down a donation from Mr Musk if it was offered.

Following the meeting, Mr Farage and Mr Candy said: "We had a great meeting with Elon Musk for an hour yesterday.

"We learned a great deal about the Trump ground game and will have ongoing discussions on other areas.

"We only have one more chance left to save the West and we can do great things together.

"Our thanks also to President Trump for allowing us to use Mar-a-Lago for this historic meeting. The special relationship is alive and well."

The news that Reform has met with Mr Musk could spark concerns about foreign influence in domestic politics.

Earlier this month Sky News heard a recording of a video call between the Conservative Party co-chair, Lord Johnson, and Tory activists in which he accused Mr Musk of attempting to "buy" Reform UK.

Lord Johnson of Lainston said it was "extraordinary" Mr Musk was "basically buying one of the political parties here".

Read more:
Sir Keir Starmer defends China policy after spy scandal
Tory co-chair accuses Elon Musk of trying to 'buy' Reform UK

He said Mr Farage should "be frankly embarrassed about that", saying he risked becoming a "puppet of a foreign politician" if he accepted any donations from Mr Musk.

In a sign of the tension between the Conservatives and their Reform rivals, Lord Johnson said he believed the reports about a potential donation from Mr Musk to Reform were "frustrating because it takes a lot of oxygen and I'm very aware of the fact that people are talking about Reform today and they're not talking about Kemi Badenoch and the new Conservative agenda".

"We have to make sure that we get the attention and we dominate people's sort of attention span in order to make sure that they start looking back at us again rather than a frankly unrealistic alternative," he said.

The prime minister's official spokesman said it was a "matter for the rules" when asked if a potential large donation by Mr Musk to a UK party would worry Sir Keir Starmer.

He added: "There are already existing rules on foreign donations, but the government has committed to... strengthening the rules."

(c) Sky News 2024: Nigel Farage meets Elon Musk and JD Vance at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort