Reform UK’s new Treasurer Nick Candy reveals he spoke to Elon Musk this morning
Reform UK’s new Treasurer has revealed he spoke to Elon Musk this morning following suggestions the tech tycoon could make a multi-million-pound donation to Nigel Farage’s party.
Nick Candy, the billionaire husband of singer Holly Valance and former Tory party member, told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that the pair exchanged messages after his appointment was announced.
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“I was messaging him this morning,” Mr Candy said.
“I cannot further discuss that. We were speaking directly.”
Property tycoon Mr Candy said he renounced his Conservative membership because of “too many broken promises” and a “breach of trust with the wealth creators in our country”.
He said he would take up the fundraising role for Reform UK in the new year.
Asked if he has held discussions with Mr Musk about donations, he told Sky News they have had “no conversations yet” on the matter but added: “If Elon wants to give it… then of course Reform would be very interested in that.”
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Is Reform UK winning the ‘bro vote’?
Mr Musk has expressed support for Reform UK on his X social media platform, suggesting the party could win the next general election.
However, party leader Mr Farage, who was interviewed alongside Mr Candy, has rubbished reports the world’s richest man could donate £80m.
He called it a “story without any basis in fact”.
He said: “Elon Musk is very supportive of what Reform is trying to do, supportive of me personally. And we’ve got the connections with him, and Nick’s got good connections with him as well.
“He’s giving us political support. We have, at this stage, neither solicited or been offered donations.”
Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Pic: AP
Reform has been buoyed by a series of recent Tory defections, including former minister Andrea Jenkyns, and described Mr Candy’s appointment as its “latest coup” as it prepares for the local elections in May.
Mr Farage told Beth Rigby that racist and homophobic comments made by some of his candidates standing at the July general election “hugely” hurt the campaign and it “wasn’t really in a fit state” to fight at the polls.
He insisted that’s now “all changed”, and the party is vetting candidates for the English county council elections, “to a standard no other party for local elections ever has done”.
Nigel Farage and Nick Candy at Millbank TV studios. Pic: PA
‘He’s a fine young man’
Mr Farage was then asked about the case of James McMurdock, one of Reform’s five new MPs who was jailed 18 years ago for repeatedly kicking his girlfriend, according to court records seen by The Times.
He spent 21 days in a young offenders’ institution after admitting to the attack, but the investment banker did not disclose his record ahead of the election and after it came to light, downplayed it as a “teenage indiscretion”.
Asked how he would deal with cases like this if they emerge in the future, Mr Farage said he believes in “Christian forgiveness”.
The Reform leader argued that if half of the people currently in a young offenders’ institution turned out as well as Mr McMurdock today “we’d be a better country”.
It was put to Mr Farage that there is a discrepancy between what court documents say – that Mr McMurdock kicked his girlfriend four times – and what he said in a statement, which is that he pushed her.
James McMurdock. Pic: PA
Mr Farage said: “I tell you what. We’re busy right?
“We’re building a new political party. You want to talk about a spent conviction from 20 years ago. What’s happened has happened.
“Whether there is a discrepancy or not, I don’t know. What I know is he’s a fine young man, he’s turned out really very, very well. He’s a serving member of Parliament.”
Mr McMurdock has said he still feels “deeply ashamed and apologetic” over the assault and that he “faced the consequences then and paid for my action in full”.
He said the “shame” of that night “led me to turn my life around” and he now has a wife and four children, and is expecting a fifth in February.
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There is “no doubt” the UK “will spend 3% of our GDP on defence” in the next parliament, the defence secretary has said.
John Healey’s comments come ahead of the publication of the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday.
This is an assessment of the state of the armed forces, the threats facing the UK, and the military transformation required to meet them.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously set out a “clear ambition” to raise defence spending to 3% in the next parliament “subject to economic and fiscal conditions”.
Mr Healey has now told The Times newspaper there is a “certain decade of rising defence spending” to come, adding that this commitment “allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.”
A government source insisted the defence secretary was “expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the government will be able to deliver on its ambition”, rather than making a new commitment.
The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir announcing plans to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 in February.
This followed mounting pressure from the White House for European nations to do more to take on responsibility for their own security and the defence of Ukraine.
The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the international aid budget, but there are big questions over where the funding for a 3% rise would be found, given the tight state of government finances.
While a commitment will help underpin the planning assumptions made in the SDR, there is of course no guarantee a Labour government would still be in power during the next parliament to have to fulfil that pledge.
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From March: How will the UK scale up defence?
A statement from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official government position has not changed in line with the defence secretary’s comments.
The statement reads: “This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War – 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year.
“The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK – making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad.”
Sir Keir commissioned the review shortly after taking office in July 2024. It is being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general.
The Ministry of Defence has already trailed a number of announcements as part of the review, including plans for a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system known as the Digital Targeting Web, which we’re told will “better connect armed forces weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster”.
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PM Sir Keir Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey on a nuclear submarine earlier this year. Pic: Crown Copyright 2025
On Saturday, the defence secretary announced a £1.5bn investment to tackle damp, mould and make other improvements to poor quality military housing in a bid to improve recruitment and retention.
Mr Healey pledged to “turn round what has been a national scandal for decades”, with 8,000 military family homes currently unfit for habitation.
He said: “The Strategic Defence Review, in the broad, will recognise that the fact that the world is changing, threats are increasing.
“In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence and so the Strategic Defence Review will be the vision and direction for the way that we’ve got to strengthen our armed forces to make us more secure at home, stronger abroad, but also learn the lessons from Ukraine as well.
“So an armed forces that can be more capable of innovation more quickly, stronger to deter the threats that we face and always with people at the heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make through this strategic defence review are so important for the future.”
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