Nigel Farage is set to fix his damaged relationship with the world’s richest man, with the two expected to meet up at what is being billed as “the biggest inauguration party” in Washington DC hosted by the Reform UK leader.
Elon Musk will be part of a star-studded guest list of 400 from the right of US and UK politics at the party on Friday at the top of the prestigious Hay Adams Hotel in DC.
It is also set to be attended by Donald Trump, many of his family including his sons Donald Jr and Barron, and leading Republicans as well as the UK’s new ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson, former prime minister Liz Truss and Tory shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel.
The only people who may not be there though are two of the organisers, Brexiteer businessmen Andy Wigmore and Arron Banks who have had theoir visas revoked.
Mr Farage will be hosting the event which has been paid for by his old Brexiteer allies Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore as well as US businessman Gerry Gunster.
But the party has been hit by a hitch with both Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore -known as the “bad boys of Brexit” – having their entry visas revoked and a desperate last minute scramble by the Trump camp to get them admitted. Friends have speculated that the move could be linked to false allegations that they colluded with Russia.
Mr Banks told The Sunday Times: “I am shocked that that US embassy have blocked our visa to the US. This is a political decision and revenge for the failed Russia Hoax perpetrated on both sides of the Atlantic.”
One of the attractions for Mr Musk is the event’s sponsor, Automated Analytics, which is creating the world’s first artificial intelligence cloud data centre powered by renewable energy windmills off the coast of the Humber.
The scheme has been promoted politically by new Doncaster Labour MP Sally Jameson, who may also be at the event.
The party will mark the first meeting between Mr Farage and Mr Musk since the X social media owner called for him to be replaced as Reform UK leader last weekend. Since then, it is understood there have been attempts via Mr Trump’s team to repair relations ahead of the inauguration via back channels.
Mr Musk, who it was claimed had been willing to offer $100m to Reform, has retweeted approving of some of Mr Farage’s posts and the Reform leader noticeably softened his tone on far-right leader Tommy Robinson, whom Mr Musk had described as a “political prisoner” over the grooming gangs scandal row.
Since helping Mr Trump win November’s US election, the Tesla owner has been accused of trying to become the power behind the throne for several right-wing parties including Reform but also the far-right Alternative for Deutschland in Germany, and Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party in Italy.
Mr Wigmore, a longtime Brexiteer ally of Mr Farage’s, told The Independent: “This is going to be the biggest inauguration party in town. Everybody who is anybody is going to be there, including Elon and Nigel.”
Meanwhile, Lord Mandelson’s attendance appears to confirm that he is willing to work with Mr Farage to improve relations between Mr Trump and Keir Starmer’s government. Labour had resisted working with Mr Farage but Lord Mandelson has made it clear he is willing to ignore political differences.
Dame Priti’s attendance could also mark the start of an attempt by the Tories to come to some sort of agreement with Reform and its leader. She infamously once danced with Mr Farage at a Tory conference and has had a good relationship with him as they are both hardline Brexiteers.
It comes as Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice claimed on Times Radio that Mr Musk remains friends with the party despite the fallout from the row a week ago.
Mr Tice said: “The great thing about free speech, I’m a huge fan of the world’s most successful entrepreneur possibly ever. I enjoy Mr Musk’s products. I use a Tesla, I use X, and Starlink is also great.
“But the joy of being friends is you can actually agree to disagree on things. Frankly, life would be pretty dull if we all agreed on everything. So on this particular issue, we just agreed to disagree. And here’s the real positive point: we’re not for sale to anybody at any price.”
Source: independent.co.uk