Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly known as Twitter) may detest the current Keir Starmer government due to clashes on topics like free speech and immigration, but Musk is playing the long game. He’s getting cozy with major figures on both sides of the aisle, advancing his particular beliefs on AI and the next generation of communications. And if those connections help his business interests, too, well, why not?
We’ve known previously that former Prime Ministers Tony Blair, Boris Johnson, and Rishi Sunak have had dealings with Musk. This article in the Financial Times weaves those threads together with how the mogul is also making a mark with people who made their names as Special Advisors from both major political parties. The operative theme seems to be: figure out how to work with Musk, or reject at your peril.
There’s another twist: The Times is reporting that Musk is also preparing to donate $100 million to Nigel Farage and the Reform party to help him become the next Prime Minster. Regardless of whether that comes to pass, Musk’s taking a very outsized role for a technology entrepreneur, indeed.