Musk extends political tentacles into UK, Germany

Elon Musk is seeking to wield the power of his social media network to boost far-right political movements in the United Kingdom and Germany, after becoming a major backer of President-elect Trump in November’s election.

Musk has in recent days boosted populist and anti-immigrant figures in the major European economies, where he holds significant business investments. 

The tech billionaire has called for new elections in the U.K., criticizing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and voicing support for far-right figures in the country like Nigel Farage, head of the Reform party, and Tommy Robinson, an anti-immigrant agitator. 

And ahead of snap German elections in February, Musk is voicing support for the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) – suspected by German authorities of potential right-wing extremism – and belittling German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as “Oaf Schitz”. 

“As someone who has invested significantly in Germany's industrial and technological landscape, I believe I have earned the right to speak candidly about its political direction,” Musk wrote in an op-ed for the German magazine Welt am Sonntag. 

Musk has “this sense of having the world as his stage,” said Jackson Janes, resident senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund and president emeritus of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies.

“I think that to some extent, he is thinking that he can inject this, ‘you gotta break things before you can make them new,’ and he represents that.”

Musk inserting himself into U.K. and German politics follows his rapid ascent to Trump’s inner circle, having donated more than a quarter of a billion dollars to the president-elect’s campaign.

Trump has included Musk on calls with foreign leaders and appointed him as co-head of an advisory body to slash government bureaucracy in the name of efficiency, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. 

Musk successfully lobbied Republicans to kill a short-term government spending deal last month; and was joined by Trump this week in backing H1B visas for highly-skilled workers, despite blowback from the anti-immigrant voices in Trump’s base.

Now he’s appearing to try and replicate that kind of influence in Europe.

Nick Candy, treasurer for the Reform UK party, the far-right, populist and euro-skeptic party headed by Farage, told the Financial Times that Musk could be one of a number of billionaire donors to the party. 

In the U.K., foreigners can give money to political parties through British businesses they own. Musk’s Tesla is a major provider of grid-batteries in the U.K., which store excess electricity generated by renewable sources. 

“We have a number of billionaires prepared to donate to the party, not just Elon,” Candy told the Financial Times. “The Reform Party is the disrupter — this is the seed round, the series A. This will be political disruption like we have never seen before.”

The interview followed a meeting between Candy, Farage and Musk at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence in Florida on Dec. 17. 

“Time for Reform,” Musk wrote on X, reposting Farage, on Jan 2. 

Musk has also gone hard after Starmer and his government, seeking to link the Labour leader to a decades-old scandal involving sexual grooming gangs in northern English cities. 

The Labour government is under renewed criticism after rejecting on Thursday a request to launch a national investigation into the grooming scandal, which largely targeted teenage girls, with many male offenders of Pakistani origin. 

Musk has posted outrage about the scandal on X since at least August. Lindsay Gorman, managing director and senior fellow of the German Marshall Fund's technology program, said the billionaire’s actions did not seem motivated by financial interests alone. 

“While it’s nearly impossible to detangle business interests from political activity for corporate leaders, I do think it’s more than just that,” Gorman said.

“For sure, the movements and parties he [Musk] supports in the UK and Germany have a better chance of championing and pushing through a deregulatory agenda that would make life easier for SpaceX and Tesla. But it’s as much about ideology, influence, and creating a movement based on Musk’s world view as it is about straight profits.” 

On Jan. 1, Musk courted more controversy in the U.K. by calling for the release of jailed anti-immigration agitator Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Robinson was jailed in October, sentenced to 18 months, for breaching a court order not to repeat false claims about a refugee from Syria. 

While Starmer has not publicly addressed Musk’s online attacks, some Labour MP’s have spoken out against the billionaire/

"Musk's support not just for Tommy Robinson, but also the AfD in Germany, shows just how big a problem he is for democracy as well as the reputation of those who cosy up to him like Nigel Farage and Liz Truss," Labour MP Stella Creasy, told Politico, with the outlet noting that her constituency saw a major counter-demonstration against the far right amid riots last summer.

Truss, who served as prime minister for 49 days in 2022, has spoken in support of Musk and backed Trump in the 2024 race.

While Starmer isn’t required to call a new election until 2029, after a Labour rout earlier this year, Musk is also looking to influence the imminent election in Germany. 

The Tesla and Space X CEO on Friday said he’ll host AfD head Alice Weidel for a live interview on X on Monday. 

“The AfD, despite being labeled far-right, offers a political realism that resonates with many Germans who feel their concerns are ignored by the establishment. They address the issues at hand without the political correctness that often masks the truth,” Musk wrote in his op-ed. 

Musk said AfD’s “approach to reducing government overreach, cutting taxes, and deregulating the market echoes the principles that have made Tesla and SpaceX successful.” 

Musk also called for Germany to embrace battery energy storage, of which Tesla is a main provider. Environmental activists have sought to block the expansion of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin, manufacturing electric cars and battery cells. 

“To those who decry the AfD as extremist, I say, look beyond the labels. Look at the policies, the economic plans, and the cultural preservation efforts,” Musk wrote. 

The German government has earlier accused Musk of trying to influence its election. 

Janes, of the German Marshall Fund, called the AfD’s platform “rancid,” and opposed to principles that Musk embodies. 

"This isn't the party that actually is touting people like him — he's a globalist, right? He's got stuff all over the world. The richest guy in the world, and the party itself is kind of the protest party against just that," he said.

Still, Janes said he doesn’t necessarily see Musk’s advocacy moving the needle with German voters. While AfD has increased its popularity and is projected to be the second largest party in the elections, Germany’s other parties have vowed to keep it out of a ruling coalition. 

“I think that there's been some overreaction in Germany on the subject, and they could have simply, almost ignored, or at least disposed of it by saying he has his opinion, that's not ours, as opposed to being very, very irate about it in the public domain,” Janes said.

“So we'll see where it goes. But I have a feeling it will be a little bit of an issue that will not necessarily make a difference. I think.”