Musk donating £80m to Reform

[glowinggg]

Is anyone else a mix of depressed and scared about this scenario playing out? In a nutshell:

• Musk reportedly donating £80m to Farage
• Musk seeking UK citizenship via his grandmother's nationality in order to do ate and influence UK politics
• Will use his skewed algorithm to boost his own X lists svc those of right wing mouthpieces - Tommy Robinson etc to destabilise UK electorate and undermine the government and Conservatives, resulting in a Reform win.

Link to article here:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/07/money-lawyers-or-boosting-farage-on-x-how-elon-musk-could-affect-uk-politics?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

I don't think that there will necessarily be any fallout between Musk and Trump or between Vance and Trump.

Trump is getting old, can't stand in 2029. He will carry on making the usual bizarre posts, will want a legacy and will be happy to take a back seat to any real policies implemented by either Musk or Vance unless they prove to be massively unpopular with the majority (in which case he will point the finger at Musk and Vance).

Quite. If Reform win it will be down to Labour’s performance, and the Tories. However, for this Parliament Reform were in no small part responsible for the size of Labour’s majority. A lot of Tory seats were lost to Labour by the right of centre vote being split.

My heart sank when I heard this and I heartily wish Musk would eff off out of British politics. The amount of influence he wields is terrifying.

Trump is basically Musk's whipping boy and now he wants Farage for his butler. I don't vote or support Reform but I hope Farage has enough self respect to decline!

Musky is becoming more and more creepy both in looks and behaviour.

As far as I know blue sky is thriving.

There's no method for Reform to get rid of Farage though is there? It's not a Party, it's a Limited Company controlled by him.
(Laughing like a drain at Musk's latest intervention).

It’s dangerous and disturbing. Surely there are simple things the government can do to stop this. Reform are either a business or a political party. Why is a business allowed to put people forward to stand in General Elections or as local councillors? Maybe I’m being stupid but can’t we just say no to that?

Also can we not put a limit on donations and how much parties can spend campaigning to even the playing field? Obviously Reform being a ‘business’ means they can get away with massive donations from people who want to interfere in UK politics, but if as a business they can’t put candidates forward would it matter?

Not at the moment but Farage said he is "putting things in place" to make it a democratic party and not a company that he's majority owner of.

I'm not sure how that's going.

I'm PMSL that yesterday, Farage said that Musk was fully behind him and made the Reform party look cool. And today, Nigel looks more like Elon's dancing monkey.🤣

Honestly, this has made my day!

I was on Twitter long before Elon Musk got involved. I'm not going. I don't post often but it's useful for things like local weather, travel, road conditions, getting banks and utilities to take action when they don't respond to email or calls, etc. Some of my clients still use it and I'm not going to lose the ability to let them know what I'm up to.

Musk will get bored eventually and someone else will take it on.

Vance is a Theil fan not a Musk one.

@DarkDarkNight Reform is a political party recognised by the Electoral Commission. Every political party has a different internal constitution and it so happens that Reform is constituted as limited liability company. There is no law against this.

There is a limit. Reform being a business does not affect that at all.

The Electoral Commission has Reform
listed as a Registered Political Party. They are subject to the same financial rules as everyone else. Basically a company registered here can donate to them and I assume Musk has one. Whether they are a company doesn’t matter it’s the registration and accompanying rules that do.

Maybe Farage should sell his share to Musk.🤔

Being a limited company doesn’t itself mean Reform is less democratic that being an unincorporated association. That depends on the articles of association of the former and the constitution of the latter.

Musk's Tweet was brilliant. It's worth watching Farage's love in for Elon on the Kuenssberg programme this morning. Which was then followed by the Tweet...

There is no requirement for registered political parties to be democratic in their ideals or their internal processes.

Agree, I was just pointing out being a limited company (which some seem to mistake as synonymous with ‘business’) is not by itself democratic or undemocratic. That comes from structure, which in Reform’s current set up seems to be undemocratic, though they are also a valid political party.

@Solanumdulcamara yes it is undemocratic but AFAIK there is no law against undemocratic, or even openly anti-democratic parties running in elections. We have had openly anti-democratic parties such as the British Union of Fascists and the National Front running in elections.

I can see the advantage when a party is new, very small, and especially if controversial, to be like undemocratic like Reform even if you do not harbour fascist or authoritarian tendencies. It stops people who are against the party’s principles joining specifically in order to stop the party/change it beyond the reason it was set up. But I am not sure many people would be supportive of undemocratic parties long term.

If we are not careful we 'll be the 51st of America. Musk will be expecting something back for his money and that may be control over.Britain.

He is hardly the first rich foreigner donating millions to a uk political party. Or the first to seek to influence UK government. There have been numerous dodgy deals between both the conservatives and Labour and the Murdoch press, not least in the run up to the elections to get the endorsement of his papers - no doubt because the parties feel doing so will directly influence the election results.

I thought that was Canada, with Mexico and Greenland taking 52nd and 53rd.
Leaving the UK with 54th or so, I may have missed some.

I wonder if Reform will dump Farage in order to get the money.

There is no mechanism for Reform to dump Farage. Reform is a limited company in which Farage has a controlling share. A party formation which I’m sure the other party leaders are secretly envious of.