British people cannot be ‘easily bought’, says Badenoch in Musk dig

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Conservative leader Kimmy Badenoch has claimed it could be “counterproductive” if Nigel Farage accepted a big donation from Elon Musk, saying “people don’t like to see politics bought”.

BadenochCriticized by some Tories for his low-profile start to the job, Farage’s populist reforms face growing political threats from the UK. Farage has spoken to the tech billionaire about a party donation.

The Conservative leader said he supported competition, adding: “I think that if Elon Musk is giving money to a party, a competing party, it’s a challenge for me to make sure I collect the same money.”

Nick Candy, Reform’s new treasurer, has promised Britain “political disruption like we’ve never seen before”. tells the Financial Times He lined up several other billionaire backers besides Musk.

Referring to Musk, Badenoch said: “I don’t believe he will give that money, but if he does, it doesn’t matter.”

He added: “US politics is very different from UK politics. People in this country don’t necessarily like to see politics bought. I think that would be potentially counterproductive.”

Last week, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffiths called for Musk to take over Another look at Tories Before donating to the reforms, said his party was the most effective opponent of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor government.

Badenoch became Tory leader on November 2 and it has been almost six months since the Conservatives lost the general election to Labour, but he has so far refused to set out specific policies to revive his party.

But he insisted it was “a marathon not a sprint” and urged voters to be patient, saying he had plenty of time to set out a detailed policy prospectus before an election, which must be held by 2029.

However, Badenoch faces an uphill battle in the short term, with Reform UK closing in on the Tories In recent opinion polls And it is threatening to make major gains at the expense of the Conservatives in local elections due in May next year.

The Tory leader accused the reform of giving voters “easy answers” and said it had “not thought it all through”. He told the BBC today Program: “What I would say to people, aren’t you tired of people lying to you?”

The Tory leader has set out a wide range of policies for his party to follow, including a belief in a smaller state, lower taxes and a tighter grip on immigration.

“I think what people are going to get with the new leadership under me is thoughtful conservatism, not knee-jerk analysis,” Badenoch said.

He admitted the Conservatives had “let people down” on immigration, suggesting the Whitehall machine or government forecasters had convinced ministers to loosen controls.

According to recent figures, net migration topped 900,000 a year under the Conservatives. Badenoch called for a cap on the total number but declined to say where it should be set.

“I think it’s going well,” Badenoch said of his first week as Conservative leader. “I was expecting it to be worse.” He said the party had “put down the tools of international warfare”.

Badenoch added: “Seeing a Labor government reminds everyone who the real opponents are.”