Nigel Farage has addressed the claims he is “autocratic”, “disloyal”, and “not up to the job” made by 12 Reform UK councillors who announced plans to resign on Friday.
The councillors’ decision was reported by the Guardian as Mr Farage was attending Reform’s event in Surrey.
The resignations came after a public spat between Mr Farage and Elon Musk, who had planned to donate around £80 million to Reform before then suggesting the party should have a new leader.
Mr Farage told the BBC that the 12 councillors – all from Derbyshire – were part of a “rogue branch” of the party.
He said: “We had a rogue branch putting people up and I think you’ll find, in many cases, there will have to be by-elections because they were not legitimately put forward,” Farage told the news organisation.
Nigel Farage has addressed the mass resignation from 12 councillors (Image: Getty)
Musk was planning to back Reform with an £80mn donation (Image: PA)
“Apparently one of them shared a Tommy Robinson post a few years ago. We have got no issue with that.”
Chairman of Reform UK, Zia Yusuf, posted on X: “The leader of this group of ‘councillors’ was suspended weeks ago by Reform for: 1) nominating candidates that failed vetting. 2) fraudulently nominating candidates with an invalid DNO certificate.
“As a result of (2), several of these ‘councillors’ are illegitimate and new elections must be held. Reform stands for the highest standards in public life, and those who commit fraud will always be expelled.”
On Friday, Mr Farage also addressed the recent criticism he faced from Mr Musk, CEO of Tesla and X.
He said that he and the tech-billionaire ands “still friends” and have spoken since. Mr Farage added that he “can’t be bullied.”
He told Sky News: “Look, he said lots of supportive things. He said one thing that wasn’t supportive. I mean, that’s just the way it is.”
He added: “What he [Musk] was saying online was that effectively Tommy Robinson was a political prisoner and I wouldn’t go along with that.
“If I had gone along with that, he wouldn’t have put out a tweet that was against me.
“By the way, you know, I can’t be pushed or bullied or made to change by anybody. I stick to what I believe.”
Mr Musk has voiced support for Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
The far-right activist is in prison for contempt of court after he repeated defamatory allegations about a Syrian refugee.
