$540 $319 for your first year Make up your own mind. Build robust opinions on the FT's trusted journalism. Offer available until 27 February 2025. Then $75 per month. Complete digital access to quality FT journalism. Cancel anytime during your trial.

Elon Musk’s recent obsession with UK politics is being fuelled by a series of popular accounts on his social media platform X, which the billionaire appears to be turning to for information on the grooming gangs scandal and Sir Keir Starmer’s track record as a prosecutor.

Elon Musk has called for Nigel Farage to be replaced as leader of Reform UK in a surprising U-turn hours after the British politician refused to endorse some of the tech billionaire’s latest online claims. “The Reform party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes,” Musk wrote on X, his social media site, on Sunday afternoon.

Presented by Lucy Fisher. Produced by Lulu Smyth. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Original music by Breen Turner and mixed by Simon Panayi. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Elon Musk is the world’s richest person, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $237 billion as of September 2024. Experts say he is likely to become the world’s first trillionaire by 2027. Most of his fortunes are from multi-business ventures.

Tory calls for new national probe into child rape gangs — that it did not make in government — expose opposition anxieties

Mr. Musk has fallen out with prominent right-wing Americans who say they are worried that their agenda may be sidelined in favor of his own — and that he is willing to silence them on X.

New polling in the U.K. shows Musk with a net approval rating of minus 51, with 71 percent feeling negatively toward the billionaire businessman.

On Monday, Trump will be sworn in as the 47th US president, making his vows over his mother’s Bible and another used by Abraham Lincoln in 1861. The ceremony at the US Capitol will feature country music singers Carrie Underwood and Lee Greenwood, who sells a $59.99 Bible endorsed by the president-elect.

Saudi Aramco is to expand its investments in lithium production, officials in Beijing are discussing using Elon Musk as a broker in a potential sale of TikTok’s US operations, and KPMG could soon begin offering legal services in the US. Plus, Syria has been flooded with imports in the aftermath of Bashar al-Assad’s ousting.