Ben Habib has left Reform Party Ltd.

I do think it's time to control MP's being paid by news broadcasters. MP's should be interviewed by the press not control the stream of information.

FGT I do have a problem with a foreign national funding any British political party as it would be illegal, however, there are loopholes which I hope get closed. How would you feel about Putin giving the same amount of money to a political party, obviously it's a theoretical question but would you be OK with that?

Perhaps its easier to give money to a PLC than registered political party.

foxie48

FGT I do have a problem with a foreign national funding any British political party as it would be illegal, however, there are loopholes which I hope get closed. How would you feel about Putin giving the same amount of money to a political party, obviously it's a theoretical question but would you be OK with that?

I would have a huge issue with both Putin and Musk donating to ANY UK political party and so should any sane person

Wyllow3

I do think it's time to control MP's being paid by news broadcasters. MP's should be interviewed by the press not control the stream of information.

👏👏👏👏👏👏

Cossy Farage has a conscience ??

valdavi

That may be £100 million straight down the drain for Elon Musk. In GB main thing it can do is promote the party on the media & Reform didn't under-perform in the GE for any lack of coverage. They stood 609 MP's for their 5 MPs last time, haven't checked but assuming they don't contest NI seats that's pretty much most constituencies.
The money might double the number of MPs but 10 MPs won't 'shake up British politics'.

Only the way our ridiculous electoral system works. Reform got more votes than the Lib Dems, half a million more in fact. The gap between the vote share and seats was the most disproportionate on record. House of Commons Library.
Time for change to make it fairer. I see the new boundary lines in our area, give a traditional Labour area 3,000 more voters.
I thought it was meant to even out the voting numbers.

Whereas in my area it took away "traditional Labour" votes. I don't think its any kind of "plot"!

It's not to "Even out" selective party political groups of voters but to re-balance how many voters in each constituency (with some allowance for huge rural areas).

The last boundary review took place in 2023 therefore affecting the 2024 elections.

The change that would work for smaller parties is Proportional Representation.

flump

Cossy Farage has a conscience ??

Doubtful!!

Freya5

valdavi

That may be £100 million straight down the drain for Elon Musk. In GB main thing it can do is promote the party on the media & Reform didn't under-perform in the GE for any lack of coverage. They stood 609 MP's for their 5 MPs last time, haven't checked but assuming they don't contest NI seats that's pretty much most constituencies.
The money might double the number of MPs but 10 MPs won't 'shake up British politics'.

Only the way our ridiculous electoral system works. Reform got more votes than the Lib Dems, half a million more in fact. The gap between the vote share and seats was the most disproportionate on record. House of Commons Library.
Time for change to make it fairer. I see the new boundary lines in our area, give a traditional Labour area 3,000 more voters.
I thought it was meant to even out the voting numbers.

This has been affecting the Greens for years.

Wyllow3

Whereas in my area it took away "traditional Labour" votes. I don't think its any kind of "plot"!

It's not to "Even out" selective party political groups of voters but to re-balance how many voters in each constituency (with some allowance for huge rural areas).

The last boundary review took place in 2023 therefore affecting the 2024 elections.

The change that would work for smaller parties is Proportional Representation.

Yes I know that, and where did I say it was a plot.
3000 more in one area than in another similar size. That seems cockeyed to me. What do I know!!

Wyllow3

Galaxy

Where is the evidence for that though.
How is this suggestion any different to misinformation.
I have no idea if it is true or not but the source seems to be 'suggestions online'

"Elon Musk tipped to give $100m to Nigel Farage in move to shake up British politics"

uk.news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-tipped-100m-nigel-101301072.html

"Elon Musk is reportedly planning to donate $100 million to Nigel Farage in a bid to shake up British politics ahead of the next election.

The Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) boss, who has openly supported Donald Trump in recent months and spoke at a Republican rally, is said to be considering backing the far-right Reform UK party.

Acording to the Times, Musk’s goal could be to help Farage become prime minister.

The billionaire may be able to sidestep overseas donation laws by funneling the £78 million through the UK branch of X, which he owns.

Mr Farage told the Times: “All I can say is that I’m in touch with him and he is very supportive of my policy positions.

“We both share a friendship with Donald Trump and Trump has said good things about me in front of Musk. We’ve got a good relationship with him.”

Thanks. I was just looking for that as my partner read it earlier today. For some reason I sometimes don’t get the same articles that he does.

give Farage $100m to make him PM?
The Tesla boss, who used his immense fortune to help Donald Trump's campaign, is turning his attention to Britain

William Turvill, Chief Business Correspondent | Tim Shipman | Caroline Wheeler, Political Editor
Labour and Tory supporters will hope this is fake news.
Elon Musk has already declared war on Sir Keir Starmer and last week suggested that Nigel Farage's Reform party would form the next government.
The Tesla tycoon, who is the world's richest man, could be about to put his money where his mouth is.
This weekend, leading businessmen and Conservative Party officials believe there is a credible prospect that Musk is preparing to give $100 million (£78 million) to Farage as a “f* you Starmer payment” with a view to transforming
Nigel Farage announced a milestone for his party's membership figures last week, and could also win vital backing from the world's richest man
THOMAS KRYCH/ZUMA PRESS WIRE/ALAMY

British politics.
Such a move could obliterate the Conservative Party as the main challenger to Labour before Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the opposition, has made her mark.
It would also open the door to near-limitless anti-government ad-
vertisements from Reform.
If the donation materialises, it is likely to be made through the British branch of Musk's social media company X, formally known as Twitter, which would enable him to get round rules preventing foreign donations to a political party, ac-
cording to those familiar with the discussions.
On Saturday evening, Farage said he did not know whether Musk would give any money but said he was in regular touch with the billionaire, who has been appointed by Donald Trump to lead efforts to pare back the US government.
“All I can say is that I'm in touch with him and he is very supportive of my policy positions,” Farage said. “We both share a friendship with Donald Trump and Trump has said good things about me in front of Musk. We've got a good relationship with him.”
On Thursday a right-wing account on X posted the news that Dame Andrea Jenkyns, a minister in Boris Johnson's government who lost her seat in the Labour landslide, had defected to Reform and will be a candidate in a mayoral election next year. The tweet added: “Reform will win the next general election.”
Musk reposted the remark to his 206 million followers with the word: “Yes”. It was liked 159,000 times.
An ally of Farage said he would “not be surprised” if such a donation were made under the banner of “freedom of speech”, adding: “Elon

Elon Musk bankrolled Donald Trump's campaign, and has been lined up for a job in his administration
BRANDON BELL/REUTERS

admires Farage and wants him to succeed.”
Another well-connected Tory grandee said he had “heard the rumours Musk wanted to support Reform”.
It is understood that Badenoch and her team are aware of the rumours.

I’d be interested to hear what Reform supporters think of this.

MB70 I would be interested too, I posted to FGT earlier, I hope she reads what I asked her but perhaps other Reform supporters would like to reply to it.

MayBee70

I’d be interested to hear what Reform supporters think of this.

I think it’s appalling! Musk has already allowed Trump to post utter rubbish on his X site.

Extremely wealthy men are alway dangerous!

I do remember however the furore around donations of far less to the LP and members thereof, during the last election. Many GNs were utterly outraged.

Where are they now ?

Er the Democrats as far as I am aware recieved more money than the trump campaign and were backed by some very influential figures. I dont particularly like the way America does politics but most of Hollywood supported the Democrats, I am not sure we can complain that musk supported trump.
I am not a reform supporter but the words if and believe seem to be doing some heavy lifting in that article.

The avengers intervention was particularly hilarious

I suppose Ben must have been quite a coup for Reform. Articulate and in some ways normalising their racism.

Galaxy as the law stands Musk, as a foreign national can't make a donation but he might be able to via a UK based company. He did nothing wrong in supporting Trump, I might question his reasons but that's a different matter altogether. The issue for me is should a foreign national like Musk be able to fund our political parties? I don't think they should as I think their motive will always be questionable.

From today’s Telegraph:

“The bad news for Labour and the Tories is that he could be about to take his career to the next level if, as has been rumoured, Reform UK is given the biggest ever donation to any UK political party.

Elon Musk is reportedly considering giving Reform up to $100 million, or around £79 million, after cementing a friendship with Farage at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

It goes without saying that any donation even approaching that size would be transformative for Reform, which remains a fledgling party lacking the manpower and apparatus of the established players.

It was the great good fortune of the Conservative Party, and to a lesser extent Labour, that Reform’s 4.1 million votes were spread too evenly to translate into many parliamentary seats in this year’s general election. Reform averaged just one seat in Parliament for every 823,000 people who voted for them, after an inevitably broad brush approach to campaigning, whereas the Lib Dems, with their vast knowledge of electioneering tricks of the trade, bagged a seat for every 49,000 votes and the Tories one seat for every 56,000 votes.

The nightmare scenario for all three mainstream parties is that Reform gets its act together before the next election, builds a nationwide party machine, beefs up and professionalises its full-time staff and has the sort of money to equal or even outdo the other parties’ advertising spend.

What, though, would Reform do with an injection of funds from Musk?

Veterans of previous UK elections say that data – something Musk knows more than a little about – is the key weapon in 21st-century campaigning, and this is where Reform could make up the most ground on the other parties.

By buying existing databases from credit companies Reform would be able to build a demographic map of the UK. They could then commission polls to build up a picture of what issues matter most to people from different demographics, and then cross reference the two in order to work out that people living in area X care most about issue Y.

The next stage would be to test out dozens of different messages on target audiences to find out which ones hit home most effectively. Advertising and messaging can then be directed very specifically to appeal to the right audience in the right area.“

What, though, would Reform do with an injection of funds from Musk?

Continue with its' racist agenda? Scapegoat refugees? Play on the fears and worries of the indiginous white population?
Not come up with any meaningful solutions to issues?

Well we have to agree to differ on this forum as I know I’m in a minority on here (but not Uk-wide 😁). The way that Nigel Farage's fortunes have changed over the past year is nothing short of phenomenal. It started I think with his appearance on I’m a Celebrity which allowed viewers to see the real man (and I don’t just mean his muscular bottom). Now as an elected MP he’s respectable, and has friends in very high places indeed. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, and this country badly needs Reform.

That whole approach of "marketing" a party US style just appalls me. The excesses it resulted in, in the USA, where like a ghastly futuristic novel with Musk handing out millions "Game show" style to win votes, bombardment of TV ads, and telling different groups of people different things on policy...