Musk turns on UK politician Farage over jailed far-right activist
Al Jazeera
Elon Musk has reversed his support for Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom’s populist party Reform UK, after a disagreement over the tech billionaire’s call for the release of a jailed far-right activist.
Musk said on Sunday that Reform UK should change its leader after Farage distanced himself from anti-Islam campaigner Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.
“The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes,” Musk posted on his social media site X.
Musk last week falsely claimed that Yaxley-Lennon, who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court, had been jailed for “telling the truth” about a child grooming scandal that rocked the UK during the 2010s.
Yaxley-Lennon received the sentence after admitting to breaching an injunction against repeating false allegations about a Syrian refugee schoolboy who successfully sued him for libel.
