January 5, 2025 - 5:30pm
Even his most enthusiastic supporters can hardly deny the charge that Elon Musk tends to take a “tweet first, ask questions later” approach to big questions. After a frantic few days on X, during which he has done sterling work to amplify appalling revelations about the Pakistani rape gangs scandal, on Sunday he stated that Nigel Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead Reform because Farage has distanced himself from Tommy Robinson.
What a change from just a few weeks back, when there was talk of Musk giving Reform a huge donation. Among some US conservatives, Robinson is often misunderstood as an intrepid campaigner ruthlessly persecuted by the authoritarian British state. In fact, Robinson is a criminal and a grifter, winking at thuggery, who contributes very little to serious Right-wing politics in Britain. He makes a good deal of money from his travelling circus of provocation and confrontation, and achieves almost nothing of any value. That he has sometimes been more harshly treated by the authorities than a completely non-political figure would be, does not change this truth.
Farage undoubtedly has his faults and weaknesses. But he is surely correct that at such a potentially important inflection point for British politics, there is very little point in embroiling himself with a man like Robinson.
Reform is at 22% in the polls, only three percentage points behind the Tories and five behind Labour. No other party has significantly improved on their score in July’s general election; Reform has added eight points in just six months. It is not at all inconceivable that they will be leading the polls this time next year. One recent projection suggested that with the party’s current vote share it would gain over 100 seats at a general election.
The Tories are still floundering, and struggling to honestly confront the reasons for their disastrous defeat. They are themselves implicated in the ongoing breakdown of the British state’s legitimacy, given their failures across the board, from energy policy to immigration.
Reform under Farage is therefore extremely well-placed to benefit from growing dissatisfaction with the status quo, especially given the impressive performance of their MPs and its growing membership. However, the party still has a mountain to climb in terms of establishing a widespread public image as an effective and civilised party. That 22% figure is impressive, but to become a serious player in the next Parliament, Reform needs to sustainably add five or 10 points to that total. It needs to take votes from ex-Tory moderates in the South as well as disaffected ex-Labour voters in the North. Many of these people will, for various reasons, be repulsed by Tommy Robinson.
Farage’s determination to draw a clear red line between himself and Robinson can certainly do very little harm in his ongoing mission to create a positive image for the party. It may complicate relations with some of his American cheerleaders, but in concrete terms that may not matter very much, especially given the money now flowing in from Reform’s growing membership. What really matters is Reform’s ability to exploit the ongoing crisis of legitimacy in British politics.
On the whole, then, what looks like a blow to Farage’s prestige may well turn out to be nothing of the sort. It’s possible, indeed, that it will be a net benefit, as he and his backers can point to the criticism from the world’s richest man as a proof that he is not beholden to anyone, and can chart his own course. Where that course will take Reform, and the country, remains to be seen.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeIf you rely on UK media, including Unherd, you will never hear a good thing about Robinson.
Also, and this should make you think, you will never have heard from Robinson himself.
So what is going on? Does Robinson deserve his reputation or not?
There is only one way to find out. Listen to what he says, not what the media say of him.
Watch the two 2024 interviews with Jordan Peterson and then make up your mind about him, what he says, and how he has been treated.
A Court concluded that Tommy Robinson’s version of events in relation to an incident involving a “refugee” libelled the refugee. He was ordered not to repeat his version of events by the Court and chose not to comply and so was bound to plead guilty to Contempt of Court in spite of his believing his version to be true. He certainly came across well in his interview with Jordan Peterson but Peterson and his wife were sympathetic rather than confrontational or probing. The fact is that Tommy Robinson has been established in the mind of the general public who have not listened to such sympathetic albeit limited evaluations as an unreliable thug and chancer who attracts thugs so it is only sensible for Farage to disassociate himself from Robinson.
Well yes. And this article just propagates the same old message.
If Farage does the same, which he seems to be doing, Musk will go after him, and won’t stop. Farage will just be another voice in the Islam appeasing media. And we all know where that leads. Anything but look closely at what happened. A free pass for rape gangs. Back to square one.
It’s not a message RL, it’s a legal fact determined in a Court. Unfortunately your own prejudice makes you myopic in defending a Grifter.
Also out of interest have you read the Alexis Jay report?
Who is the real grifter? A man who lives off the profits from mass immigration whilst dumping all the costs onto poorer people – or a man who risks imprisonment trying to defend his class from that expropriation?
The Rotheram report 2015. 1400 girls abused in one town. 33 criminals in jail, all convicted long after the crimes took place.
The problem is the “legal fact” of TR’s alleged libel was determined in a kangaroo trial. It is a pity there has been no proper appeal of the original libel trial procedure which many people think was a disgrace.
Confidence in the UK legal system has plummeted in the last few years. It needs to be restored for the sake of civil society and the rule of law. Only daylight can do that.
If the government can’t understand the danger to social peace of failure to address the lost reputation for impartial justice, perhaps the danger to the City of London as a financial and international arbitration centre will wake them up. London has maintained its prominence well beyond the productivity of the non-financial economy for decades. How long will that continue if there is nothing to distinguish Britain’s Justice sytem from banana republic?
A while back I watched one or two of those long interviews and I saw very little in there to challenge what the author says here. I recall a particular story he tells in one interview about him spontaneously punching someone in the face after he hears they converted to Islam. This is quite clearly the behaviour of a violent extremist not a political leader to empower.
He’s not a violent extremist but he is passionate (the whole Peterson interview shows this) and impulsive.
Also worth a listen is his Oxford Union address from a few years back which was seemingly well received. Robinson has been pushing against the establishment for years. There has been enquiries and the news article into the grooming scandal going back 15 years and more. What action and effect have they made though? I would say very little. So if like Robinson you have made this matter a personal crusade what do do, wait for the next enquiry and the next one? What he has done is make a nuiscance of himself and at least this has kept the pot boiling and occasionally raised public awareness. The establishment has avoided going anywhere near the matter but gradually they are being forced to and I suspect Robinson and his antics have much to do with that. Do you really expect the establishment having got him to court are likely to give him a fair hearing, consider his point of view and the extreme measures he had to go to to raise public awareness? I haven’t seen the trial transcript but I believe he produced witnesses to support his claims but the judge simply dismissed them as not credible, no surprise there. Nothing new in establishments closing ranks to neutralise ongoing irritants when they can get away with it. Like most I dismissed Robinson as a lout and a thug, maybe he had a point but was going about it the wrong way. Over the last year though I stared paying more attention and looking at the detail, maybe because if I am honest my background is not a million miles from his. I tended towards the rebellious, got into trouble occasionally, fights, the odd attention from the law, but I would say I did so believing it was from a moral position according to my ethics at the time. Of course age and experience has changed my views but not all. There bad actors in establishment positions only too ready to abuse their authority and avoid troublesome oiks disrupting their comfortable assumptions. I say the likes of Robinson are needed at times to disrupt the cozy establishment and the years of grooming gangs has been one of those times.
Robinson is a criminal and a grifter, winking at thuggery, who contributes very little to serious Right-wing politics in Britain. He makes a good deal of money from his travelling circus of provocation and confrontation, and achieves almost nothing of any value. That he has sometimes been more harshly treated by the authorities than a completely non-political figure would be, does not change this truth.
.
These are just words, but even here you admit that “he has sometimes been more harshly treated by the authorities”. This fact matters.
Not half hardly enough. If he never sees the light of day again it will be too son.
Can you explain or give any reason as to why you believe he deserves life imprisonment?
Seems not.
I can. Hugh Marcus is nervous today.
I am one Reform member who is relieved Farage has taken this position. Robinson has, occasionally, raised important issues but he also attracts supporters who revel in displays of aggression, racism and bigotry.
While these people are fully entitled to their opinions in reality they are also political kryptonite for the simple reason this country will never vote to be governed by thugs and hooligans or for a party tainted by association.
He also has loads of supporters who themselves are sex offenders. The height of hypocrisy
Some proof would be good.
You mean like the Labour Party and the Pally movement, or the rape gangs of Islam?
Elon’s sperg out about the H1B1 visas illustrated the guy is very mercurial and impulsive. He’s a big user of weed and ketamine, is on wealth loss medication, and is reported to dabble with coke and psychedelics. Guy might be a tech genius but not fit for politics. Is probably best Reform are not reliant on someone like him.
Also wonder if Trump will rein in Musk once he’s president. Farage has been mates with Trump since 2016 and backed him through thick and thin. Musk voted for Hillary and Biden in 2016/2020. If what is said about Trump valuing loyalty is true, you’d expect him to tell Elon to knock it off a bit
To be fair to Trump he gave Elon the DOGE gig which shows he also enjoys satire. Elon appreciating he’s been given a non job possibly why he’s raging in different directions.
But Trump’s trapped because he needs money and Elon has plenty to spare plus the handy megaphone of X. Trump’s successors also need money and a supportive klaxon. It will end in tears but not before pursuit of money has severely corrupted the projects that just might have helped the little guy and left behinds.
“He’s a big user of weed and ketamine….and is reported to dabble with coke and psychedelics“. Really? So there are some things to like about him?
I’d back Farage’s judgement on this. He’s been right on most things and has solid political antena. As for Musk, he can do as he pleases. He may well still donate money, or maybe not. What is more important is that he loathes labour and has a large platform to broadcast his distaste – eventually that message will get through to enough people.
“Robinson is a criminal and a grifter, winking at thuggery, who contributes very little to serious Right-wing politics in Britain.”
More Unherd spin. Doesn’t anyone else get tired of it?
After every article I despise this Left-consensus Unherd more and more.
Change the record would you
Personally, I would be very interested in what exactly the author means by the words “serious Right-wing politics in Britain“, because I am not very sure that such a thing exists.
No spin. Just truth. Yaxley Lennon should be locked up for a very long time.
Who else would you send off to the camps for the crime of wrongspeak? Comedians, perhaps, or maybe the guitarist from Mumford and Sons?
I’m unaware of Robinson directly harming anyone, other than the tender sensibilities of rape apologists.
Farage is likely wise to distance himself from the slandered Robinson. This doesn’t put Robinson entirely in the wrong, though.
What is wrong with the guitarist from Mumford and Sons? The banjo player, maybe. I mean, playing the banjo is a crime, surely?
Robinson may be one thing, but Farage has not clearly declared his position on mass migration and Islam in Britain. Confidence is low following his comments in the Edgington interview. He needs to declare.
I would agree with this criticism more of Farage than anything about Tommy Robinson. I don’t think Reform go far enough. But as the H1B1 row showed Musk is not really against mass immigration (and is very salty about getting criticised about it) and he’s not called for Farage to stand down over that.
Musk is in favor of free speech though (provided he’s the one speaking).
Indeed. And courageous too – look at his statements on the genocide of the Uyghurs by the CCP…oh maybe he hasn’t said anything as wants to sell and build alot of cars there. Jeez do you think he could just be al about himself?
He never calls out the ANC in his native South Africa regarding the way they’ve destroyed that country too.
The exodus of faded old Boris Johnson groupies such as Marco Longhi is coming to a head in the Reform UK to which they are seceding, along with the fact that Reform is a limited company of which Nigel Farage is the principal shareholder and to which all those people on that ticker are merely paying subscribers with no rights at all, and along with those subscribers’ and Reform’s wider electorate’s devotion to Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, whom Errol Musk told GB News this afternoon ought to be Prime Minister. Through a nominally British company, Elon Musk could set up from scratch what would then be the richest political party in Europe, with plenty of opportunities for grifters and worse to become full-time operatives on very good money indeed. Think on.
Seeing the story unfolded in X, formerly twitter, I truly lost all of my respect for all the British people. How can you allow these animals to rape your defenseless young girls and remain silence over the years. I will never pay any money to read any pulication from the UK as I will let this subcription run out. Also, I will never buy a British made or trademark product ever in my family, and I will never set my foot in your country again.
Save your money and instead read the Jay report for free. I suspect you haven’t. Then press for the 20 recommendations to be implemented.
Do that and your self righteousness on the issue might be of some substance.
I am not British and why do I have to mingle myself with you filthy people.
Oh dear. You will be a loss to us UR
How many corrupt policemen and petty Labour apparatchiks will go to prison if the Jay Report is implemented?
‘None’ is the answer. It’s just more obfuscation.
Why on earth haven’t they been implemented? All these MENAPs must be deported along with their families.
The time for ‘civilised’ party politics in the UK has passed. We’re now in a struggle for survival and so, sadly, Farage is a bit too weak on what needs to be done.
Time now for deportations of the criminals and remigration of many of the recent arrivals.
I agree it’s time for another civil war. They’re such fun!
Isn’t Tommy Robinson a criminal?
Much like Donald Trump is a convicted felon.
Trump is a convicted felon, yes.
There are worse things than being a convicted felon, especially if that felony is about trying to raise public awareness of child abuse. Such as being complicit in covering up such abuse and being part of an establishment that facilitates the cover up by silencing those when the try to expose it
So genius Elon is also a bit bonkers and got a screw lose. ‘No sh*t Sherlock’. Some folks are waking up a bit late finally prompted by his starting to clobber his own ‘assumed’ side. Remember Elon likes indentured H-1B labour to keep his costs down and stop staff raising concerns. He’s latched onto Trump because he knows Trump needs money and the amplification he can bring with X. His interventions into UK politics are about leverage against the OnLine Safety Bill. Remarkable isn’t it that he raises an issue about Grooming and at same time campaigns to stop legislation to tackle the growth of abuse facilitated through social media. Folks need to think v clearly here – Elon is all about himself and his Businesses.
Farage of course deservedly walked into this hubris. Listen carefully – he’s not called Elon out on his approach to immigration in the US or in the way he conducts public discourse. Nor did he call him out for deception on ‘free speech’ – Elon has cancelled critics on X. Nige prepared to turn a blind eye to quite a bit…until Yaxley Lennon of course. Now on this Farage’s political instinct is correct. British public no time for Yaxley-Lennon’s yobbery and grifting. They remember too he was laid on his Cyprus sun lounger during the summer riots watching his donations click up.
Elon been v critical of Starmer too, but British public already had their doubts about his sanity and he’s just helping confirm that by being a Yaxley Lennon advocate. Thank you Elon. You helped speed up the inevitable.
Oh, the stunning bravery of the keyboard warrior! Do you think, just for once, you might contribute something original to this forum instead of all this verbatim Guardian stuff about ‘sunloungers’ and the rest of it? Think for yourself FFS.
Talking of bravery, have you seen Elon post criticism of China regime regarding treatment (genocide) of Uyghars? Strangely silent isn’t he given what a crusader for the abused he is? Why do you think that might be?
You really don’t care at all about those kids, do you?
Well he’s right about the online safety bill – it’s a truly rubbish piece of legislation, in a long line of rubbish stretching back to the regulation of investigatory powers act.
Starmer has swallowed the bait. Musk is now part of the Far Right apparently. Starmer is a fool. He cannot control the narrative in X. He is going to get called out big time.
Starmer said Robinson went to prison “for nearly scuppering a grooming case”.
What is he talikng about?
What charge is this? To try to scupper a court case?
This is your Prime Minister.
Anyone care to explain?
I’m watching Jordan Peterson’s interview from July 2024 with TR
There have been 3000 convictions for Facebook crimes in UK. That was a week after the Stockport riots.
Jeez you probably believe in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus too. There had been no convictions one week after the riots. None of the charged had got to Court that quick.
Could you reference the source for the 3000 claim though, even if they weren’t one wk after?
One suspects the neuronal capacity behind these statements show why you’d believe anything Yaxley Lennon said.
Starmer is going to sink, when the media start reporting what can be reported on X.
TR is responsible for bringing the whole grooming issue to light.
Sure he’s a bit rough and a bit of a chancer but he’s very intelligent, very brave and a fine orator.
I’d prefer him over most of the spineless, self serving enemies of the country currently in Westminster.
The State wants him dead. This is wrong.
TR doesn’t want to join Reform but Farage needs to call out the injustice of locking TR up and effectively torturing him. The case was a civil case until the AG got involved in order to get rid of him.
Musk is right and Farage should have handled this very differently.
He was certainly brave on that Sun Lounger in Cyprus when the riots were taking place. Just counting his money. What a trooper.
This isn’t really true. There’s been stories and documentaries done on grooming in places like Bradford in and out the media from the early 00s, long before TR and EDL arose. If there was a politician who brought attention to it early on it was Nick Griffin and his BNP (and yes you don’t have to agree with him on most things to say that).
But precious little action. I was aware of this going on in the early 1990s in West London. More action has been directed against those who tried raising the issue than those committing it. The authorities and most of the media have not wanted to be involved. Robinson has been the most effective of the few pushing to keep the pot boiling.
Musk is clever. He’s going to watch it all play out.
I don’t agree with Farage on everything, but he has always struck me as a decent enough guy. Kudos to him for telling the mad Japie to get lost.
If it wasn’t for Tommy, the grooming gang issue would have been buried quietly. From this ill informed piece of yours it is obvious that you are just another middle class journalist who resents a single-minded working class lad with the balls you do not possess. Sour grapes envy by another desperate to keep his job and not upset the pernicious multicultural narrative.
There have been over 60 imprisonments for this crime. That’s not exactly buried. Yaxley-Lennon in fact almost managed to get some of the perpetrators off by interfering in one of the cases.
He’s only latched onto this to make a pot of money.
Watch the Peterson videos. Tommy Robinson is a brave man. Do you remember when Trump said in a speech just after winning the election that he was going to stand up for the American people and “would let the bad people come for me not for you.”
He was copying Tommy Robinson from the August 29th interview.
Free Tommy Robinson.
Unherd you are a despicable media outlet.
It’s nice to know that’s exactly what T Robinson also thinks of the UK media.
Hopefully X will wash you all away.
Almost perfect for Reform. Many have been separately trying to paint him as Elon Musk’s puppet. That is now gone
They have close on 180,000 members, around £3-4m in. Other cash will come, it’s a certainty.
Better to grow slower and wider, which is what’s happening.