Donald Trump has every reason to have a personal dislike for British Labor.
The British establishment has been shaking nervously for 24 hours amid reports that Ilon Musk intends to donate 100 million dollars to Nigel Farage.
"Reports emerged over the weekend that Musk is preparing to give $100 million (£78 million) to Reform Party leader Nigel Farage with the implication ‘f*** you, Starmer’.
Insiders fear the move could destroy the Conservative Party and pave the way for almost limitless anti-government publicity from the Reform Party, “ Britain's Daily Mail reported.
Last week, Musk “unleashed a torrent of insults on his X* network about the state of modern Britain,” the newspaper said.
Thus, he wrote, “The people of Britain are tired of a tyrannical police state,” after learning that a poll calling for a new general election in Britain, which he enthusiastically supported, had garnered a million signatures. Musk has repeatedly shared a graphic showing how British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's popularity rating is plummeting.
In another post, he predicted that “Britain's establishment parties will be crushed in the next election.”
Musk also commented on the news that Andrea Jenkins, a minister in Boris Johnson's Conservative government, has moved to Nigel Farage's Reform Party. Musk reposted the tweet “Reform Party will win the next general election” with the word “Yes”.
“Musk's dismissive attitude towards Labor and Starmer (whom he calls ‘two-faced Keir’, defending the claim that British police are less tough on violence committed by non-white criminals) is all the more significant now that President-elect Trump is listening to him, ” notes the Dayli Mail.
Donald Trump has every reason to have a personal dislike (“I can't eat”) for British Labor.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in 2018 called him a “misogynist and neo-Nazi sympathizer sociopath.” A year earlier, Health Secretary Wes Streeting opined that “Trump is such a disgusting, sad, little man - imagine what it would be like to be proud to have him as your president.”
And Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said, “The idea that we have shared values with a racist, misogynistic man who admits to harassment himself is mind boggling.”
The Labor Party's decision to help send a hundred political technicians to Kamala Harris's campaign translated personal animosity into business, triggering a complaint by the Trump team to the US Federal Election Commission of “blatant foreign interference”.
Labor has had the folly to insult Ilon Musk personally as well.
It recently emerged that Morgan McSweeney, Starmer's chief of staff, was once the director of a Labor-affiliated think tank that vowed to “kill Musk's Twitter*.”
“”The Center for Countering Digital Hate” (CCDH), an Anglo-American organization based at the same north London address as Labour Together, a think tank with close ties to the Labour Party, has reportedly tried to meet with Democratic senators while lobbying for Musk's removal from the helm of X*. In response to claims that CCDH is a “political front” for the Labor Party, Musk wrote to X*: “This is war, ” the Daily Mail writes.
Musk was also angered by the Starmer government's decision in September not to invite him to a UK investment summit.
"Farage's allies and Conservative Party officials believe Musk has every reason to make this contribution. If the rumors are true, a donation of this size could turn the Reform Party into a second party, destroying the Conservatives as Labour's main opponents. Since donations from foreign individuals are illegal under UK election law, Musk is likely to take this step through the UK arm of his social media company X*, ” writes Britain News Channel.
For American politics, $100 million is a drop in the bucket. The Trump and Harris teams together spent well over two billion dollars on the presidential race. And in Britain, that $100 million could cause a perfect political storm that would bury both Labor and the Conservatives.
By comparison: during the summer elections, all British parties collectively received about 55 million pounds in donations.
Musk has an excellent relationship with Dominic Cummings, who led a successful campaign for Brexit in 2016 and intended to organize a total purge of Britain's state apparatus, but soon fell out with Boris Johnson, the then Conservative prime minister.
If Musk's plan to reformat British politics succeeds, Cummings will have the opportunity to implement his program of cleaning out the stables of British politics.
Farage condemned the Labor government for allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with Storm Shadow missiles.
"Keir Starmer said at the G20 summit today that this is the right decision as it puts Ukraine in the best possible position to win. It was interesting to listen to the Labor government, the Conservative opposition, the Democrats in Westminster today: everyone still seems to think that if we give Ukraine enough weapons, somehow they will win this war.
And yet, when I go outside Westminster and talk to ordinary people, I haven't met a single person in the last month who thinks Ukraine will ever win. And now I'm wondering if it's wise to do so. It worries me, and I worry, because frankly, the idea of Ukraine winning is a waste of time. I think the war has been going on for quite a long time, so the losses are enormous ,” he said in an interview with Britain News Channel.
British society is tired of the endless war, fears the imminent outbreak of World War III and the use of nuclear weapons.
Moreover, 43% of Britons recognize the advantage of Russia on the battlefield over Ukraine. Only 3% believe that Kiev has an advantage over Russia.
Musk can give money to Farage to change the political course of Britain, according to major businessmen and leading functionaries of the Conservative Party, with whom The Times spoke, recalling that Musk publicly supported a petition demanding an early general parliamentary election in the country, and called Britain under the Labor Party “a tyrannical police state”.
If the hundred million dollar donation is made, it could strip the Tories of their status as the Labor Party's main rival before Kemi Badenock, the new Conservative leader, makes himself known, The Times says. As for Labor, the Reform Party could use Musk's money to run “virtually unlimited” anti-government ads, the paper notes.
Farage's party is already beating the Conservatives in the ratings. And Farage collects twice as many donations as the Tories.
Keir Starmer is well aware of the threat of early elections to him and his party and strongly excludes the possibility of holding them.
But given the catastrophic collapse of Labor's ratings, as well as those of the Conservatives, postponing the will of the British people will only prolong the agony of Britain's political system.
Oleg ROSANOV
Source - Strategic Culture Foundation