Nigel Farage has insisted Tommy Robinson is not what Reform needs, as he rejected the idea of the far-right activist becoming a part of his party.
It comes after tech billionaire Elon Musk expressed his support for Robinson who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court which began in October.
In a post on social media platform ‘X’, Musk wrote: ‘Free Tommy Robinson’, while he later recommended his followers watch Robinson’s banned documentary, centred on an incident in 2018 involving Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi, 17.
The Reform UK leader described Musk as a ‘hero figure, especially for the youth’, ahead of his party’s East Midlands Conference in Leicester on Friday evening.
But Farage has distanced his party from Robinson, along with MP Lee Anderson, who have said the far-right figure is not welcome in Reform UK.
Farage told GB News: ‘We’re a political party aiming to win the next general election. He’s not what we need.’
Fellow Reform UK MP Lee Anderson also told GB News: ‘I would not welcome Tommy Robinson into Reform UK. I think we made our position quite clear on that.’
At Reform UK’s conference tonight in Leicester, Anderson was forced to tell several pro-Robinson supporters to ‘shut up or get out’ as he was heckled during his speech.
Meanwhile, demonstrators waved placards which read ‘fascists out’ and ‘refugees welcome’, outside the Athena events venue where the conference was taking place.
Responding to Mr Musk’s posts in support of Robinson, Farage told GB News: ‘He’s attacking the leadership of Britain.’
Turning to the UK Government’s handling of child grooming gangs, amid calls for a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham, the party leader continued: ‘I mean, (Mr Musk is) saying Britain has been terribly badly led and that the grooming scandal, the mass rape scandal which has resurfaced and transcripts of what was said in court have been online – and I recommend you at home don’t read them, you won’t sleep at night.
‘And so, yes, he is attacking the leadership of Britain. He’s very supportive of me. He’s very supportive of the party.
‘He sees Robinson as one of these people that fought against the grooming gangs.
‘But of course the truth is Tommy Robinson’s in prison not for that, but for contempt of court.’
The MP for Clacton in Essex added that Musk, who backed Donald Trump’s winning campaign in last year’s US presidential election, ‘is helping us all right’.
Farage said: ‘It’s a mixture of things as to how he fought that ground campaign for the Republicans in the key states, seven key states, and that was the task that he picked up, so we’ve learned a lot from that.
‘He will help us enormously because he’s a hero figure, especially for the youth who really do admire this man and if it comes to him helping us financially, that’s fantastic.’
On calls for a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham, Farage said he wanted a ‘full public inquiry with the glare of publicity’.
Home Office minister Jess Phillips previously denied requests from Oldham Council to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the borough.
In a letter to the authority in Greater Manchester, Phillips said she believes it is ‘for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene’.
An Oldham Council spokesman previously said: ‘Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation.
‘Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge.’
