Is it even legal for Elon Musk to give Nigel Farage $100m?

It would be the biggest ever British political donation if it happens, but is it allowed? Sean O’Grady looks at where the law stands

Elon Musk’s emergence as a Reform UK supporter has startled the established parties, and with good reason. Thanks to his close association with Donald Trump, the richest person in the world has seen his net wealth rise further to around $400bn since the presidential election.

He has not been shy about using his money for political purposes: $45m per month to the Trump campaign, for example. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and his new party treasurer Nick Candy (a relatively junior billionaire in the scheme of things) went to Trump HQ in Florida and spent an hour discussing how Musk could help them. Money was discussed and perhaps also digital campaigning techniques. Photographs of the threesome at Mar-a-Lago have dismayed many and terrified political rivals. But what might Musk do?

Is Musk going to give Reform UK $100m?

This figure has been widely reported, if speculatively, but Farage says that no actual figures have been tabled. He says the $100m figure is “for the birds” but even a much lower figure would dwarf all other political donations in British history and would exceed the national spending cap for a general election, including local candidate expenditure. If a political party chooses to contest all 632 seats in Great Britain at a general election, it is able to spend just over £34m.

Outside election periods, party expenditure is not capped. Interestingly, the purported Musk gift of $100m is almost the same as the total income and total spending by all registered parties during 2022 – some £99,993,948 and £101,686,090 respectively.

Would a $100m Musk donation to Reform UK be legal?

It could be. There are two routes whereby Musk could make a donation lawfully: the easiest would be via a UK company owned or controlled by Musk, which would have to be declared. It doesn’t matter whether or not the money was from revenues or profits generated in the UK. The same goes for some types of trust.

It raises the question of Musk’s nationality and a possible second route to becoming a lawful donor to a British political party. Musk could become a British citizen because of his paternal grandmother, Cora (Cora Amelia Robinson Musk, born 1923, Liverpool).  Luckily for “scouser” Musk, who is now an American citizen (not without some controversy about the circumstances), the UK and the US allow for dual citizenship (as does South Africa, where he was born, provided he obtains permission from the South African government).

However, the real test for a valid personal political donation is whether an individual is on the UK electoral register and “living in the UK”. Obviously, Musk could buy almost any property he wished in the UK and hang out there a bit, but whether that counts for residency under British electoral law is unclear.

Would it be hypocritical of Reform UK to accept such a donation?

It does have that vibe, given the party’s strong emphasis on British nationhood and cohesion and populist rejection of influence from rich global elites. Moreover, Musk is in a very personal way presently invested in the US government, and that’s not necessarily compatible with the British national interest (eg on tariffs, Ukraine and Nato).

And how British could Musk really claim to be, given his X posts which suggest a lack of understanding of what’s actually going on? Ursula von der Leyen, for example, has probably spent more time on British soil than Musk, who famously declined to attend a Commons committee hearing (though he did turn up for Rishi Sunak’s AI summit last year). In any case, Musk’s “Britishness” and links to the UK would be far more shallow than is the case with many of the other immigrants that Farage derides.

Why do it, Elon?

Rightly or wrongly, Musk seems to think that free speech is threatened in Britain and what he terms the “woke mind-virus” is far too prevalent for his liking.

Can he be stopped?

Yes, and there’s an urgent need to regulate party spending outside the more tightly controlled election periods. Current rules are two decades old and haven’t caught up with the emergence of online culture and social media, AI and misinformation.

So far as UK law is concerned, Britain is still a nation of print newspaper readers who watch regulated mainstream television channels with politics funded by well-off individuals or UK-domiciled corporations and trade unions. Musk or not, things urgently need to be brought up to date.