Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson say Tommy Robinson ‘not welcome’ in Reform | Politics | News

Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson have said far-right figure Tommy Robinson is not welcome in Reform UK, after billionaire Elon Musk expressed support for the jailed activist.

On whether Reform UK would accept support from Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, in the future, Mr Farage told GB News: “We’re a political party aiming to win the next general election. He’s not what we need.”

Mr Farage’s fellow Reform UK MP, Lee Anderson, added his voice in a negative, writing on X: “I would not welcome Tommy Robinson into Reform UK.”

Mr Farage, the MP for Clacton in Essex, added that Mr Musk, who backed Donald Trump‘s winning campaign in last year’s US presidential election, “is helping us all right”.

Mr 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.”

The Reform UK leader described Mr Musk as a “hero figure, especially for the youth”, ahead of his party’s East Midlands Conference in Leicester on Friday evening.

But he distanced his party from Robinson, who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court which began in October.

Mr Musk wrote on his social media website X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday: “Free Tommy Robinson.”

But Reform UK MP for Ashfield, Lee Anderson, doubled down on his assesment of Robinson having anything to do with his party, telling GB News there needed to be “no distractions” from saving “our beautiful country”.

On calls for a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham, Mr 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, Ms 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.”