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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed that Nigel Farage accepting a large donation from Elon Musk could be “counterproductive”, adding: “People are worried that politics will be bought. I don’t necessarily like seeing that.”
Mr Badenoch has been criticized by some Conservatives for his low-profile appointment and faces a growing political threat from Mr Farage’s populist British reforms. Mr Farage is discussing donations to political parties with tech billionaires.
The Conservative Party leader said he supported competition, adding: “If Elon Musk is funding a political party, a competing party, I think it’s going to be difficult to make sure he’s raising the same money.” .
Reformist new treasurer Nick Candy promises Britain “political chaos like we’ve never seen before” and has several billionaire backers in addition to Musk. told the Financial Times.
“I don’t believe he’s going to give that money, but it doesn’t matter whether he does or not,” Badenoch said of Musk.
She added: “Politics in the US is very different from politics in the UK. People in this country don’t necessarily like their politics to be bought. I think that can be counterproductive. Masu.”
Last week, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffiths urged Mr Musk to take another look at the Conservative Party before donating to reformers, saying the party was the most effective challenge to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor government. Ta.
Ms Badenoch took over as Conservative Party leader on November 2, almost six months after the Conservative Party lost to Labor in the general election, but so far she has not been able to come up with concrete policies to revive the party. is refusing.
But she insisted this was a “marathon, not a sprint”, and said there was plenty of time to develop a detailed policy prospectus before the elections, which must be held by 2029, and voters urged them to be patient.
But with Reform Britain closing in on the Tories, Mr Badenoch will face a tough battle in the short term. In a recent opinion poll And it is threatening to take a big step forward at the expense of the Conservatives in local elections scheduled for next May.
The Conservative leader accused reformers of offering voters “easy answers” and said they had “not thought through them”. she told the BBC today Program: “I just want to say to you: Are you tired of people lying?”
The Conservative leader set out a wide range of principles for his party to follow, including a belief in smaller states, lower taxes and tighter controls on immigration.
“I am the thinker. What people will get from the new leadership under me is thoughtful conservatism, not random analysis,” Mr Badenoch said.
She admitted the Conservatives had “let the public down” on immigration and suggested that Whitehall institutions and official forecasters had persuaded ministers to ease restrictions.
Recent figures show net immigration rose to more than 900,000 in a single year under the Conservative government. Mr Badenoch called for a cap on the total number, but declined to say where it should be set.
“I think it’s going well,” Mr Badenoch said of his first few weeks as Conservative leader. “We expected it to be much worse,” she said, adding that the party had “suspended civil war tools.”
Mr Badenoch added: “Looking at the Labor government reminds everyone who the real opposition is.”