Elon Musk has called for Nigel Farage to be replaced as leader of Reform UK, just weeks after it was claimed the multi-billionaire was in talks to donate a large sum to the party.

In a post on his social media site X, Musk said Farage "doesn't have what it takes" to lead the party.

Farage defended Musk to the BBC on Sunday, saying "free speech was back", after the tech entrepreneur attacked the UK government's response to grooming gangs.

The Reform UK leader has distanced himself from Musk's support for Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist who is serving a jail term in the UK for contempt of court.

Farage founded Reform UK in 2018, then called the Brexit Party, and returned as the party's leader before being elected as an MP in 2024.

It is unclear what has compelled Musk to turn on Farage.

Speaking to the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Farage described Musk as a "friend" and said he planned to "have a conversation with him on a variety of things" - including Robinson - at the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Farage has maintained close ties Trump, who has brought Musk on as an adviser.

Elon Musk's attack on Jess Phillips over grooming gangs is a "disgraceful smear", Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said.

Tech multi-billionaire Musk posted messages on his social media site X saying the safeguarding minister should be jailed and calling her a "rape genocide apologist", as well as criticising Sir Keir Starmer for failing to prosecute gangs.

It came after Phillips rejected a request for the government to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham - which sparked calls from the Conservatives and Reform UK for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

Streeting told the BBC Musk's comments were "ill-judged" as Phillips had "done more than most people ever do" to fight sexual abuse.

On Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Streeting said: "It is a disgraceful smear of a great woman who has spent her life supporting victims of the kind of violence that Elon Musk and others say that they're against.

"It's all very easy to sit there and fire off something in haste and click send when people like Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips have done the hard yards of actually locking up wife beaters, rapists and paedophiles."

Musk's latest intervention came after Phillips instructed Oldham Council in October to launch its own local inquiry into historic child sexual abuse in the town, similar to inquiries set up in Rochdale and Telford.

Musk said that she "deserves to be in prison" for her response.

The decision was also criticised by several senior Tories, despite the previous Conservative government turning down a similar request in 2022.

Musk, a key adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, also suggested Sir Keir had failed to properly prosecute rape gangs while director of public prosecutions (DPP), and has repeatedly retweeted Reform UK and Conservative MPs calling for a national inquiry.

Streeting's comments came after Reform UK leader Nigel Farage defended Musk after he attacked the UK government's response to grooming gangs.

Speaking on the same programme, Farage said Musk had used "very tough terms" but that "free speech was back" on X under his ownership.

He said the public is "absolutely right to be" angry about grooming gangs and to ask why there had not been a full public inquiry.

Streeting challenged Musk to "roll up his sleeves" and help tackle violence against women on online platforms.

"Online platforms have got a role to play in keeping people safe online, helping law enforcement on perpetrators of violence against women and people who want to groom kids online."

The health secretary said Sir Keir and Phillips both had "records that their critics can't even begin to touch".

While director of public prosecutions, Sir Keir introduced a special prosecutor for child abuse and sexual exploitation to oversee convictions against grooming gangs.

Starmer also changed the Crown Prosecution Service guidance to encourage police to investigate suspects in complex sexual abuse cases and court reforms aimed at making the process less traumatic for victims.

"As director of prosecutions, Keir Starmer opened up historic cases, going after people who thought they had got away with it," Streeting said.

"As for Jess Phillips, the work that she has done in her professional life outside politics, supporting victims of violence against women and girls, she has helped support them to get their day in in court and lock up their abusers" he added.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a full national public inquiry into what she called the UK's "rape gangs scandal".

But the party has also criticised Musk for "sharing things that are factually inaccurate" and distanced itself from his call for Phillips to be jailed.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticised Musk's comments on Phillips as "not appropriate" but argued he was "right to be raising the general issue".

Speaking on the same programme, Philp said politicians have an "obligation" to speak about difficult issues in a calm manner "but they also have an obligation to tell the truth" on these matters.

Oldham abuse inquiry

In a letter seen by the BBC, Phillips and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper wrote to the Conservatives setting out why they had asked Oldham Council to set up its own inquiry, rather than grant its request for a government-led one.

The letter pointed out the local authority had already started setting up its own inquiry, and added victims have said "loud and clear" they want action.

They said they supported an independent review commissioned by Mayor Andy Burnham, which covered historic abuse in Oldham and led to a new police investigation, as well as other child protection work across Greater Manchester.

The letter highlighted the work of the Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry which published its final findings in 2022. It made clear "abuse must be pursued and challenged everywhere with no fear or favour" - whether in care homes, churches, homes or by grooming gangs.

Professor Alexis Jay, who led that inquiry, said in November she felt "frustrated" that none of its 20 recommendations to tackle abuse had been implemented more than two years later.

There have been several investigations into grooming gangs in various parts of England, including Rotherham, Bristol, Cornwall and Derbyshire.

An inquiry into abuse in Rotherham found 1,400 children had been sexually abused over a 16-year period, predominantly by British Pakistani men.

An investigation in Telford found that up to 1,000 girls had been abused over 40 years - and that some cases had not been investigated because of "nervousness about race".

The fate of two killer whales is uncertain following the closure of a marine zoo on Sunday.

Campaigners and the zoo's managers have been locked in disagreement about what should happen to the orca whales with the French government already blocking one proposal to rehome them.

Last month Marineland Antibes, located near Cannes in the French Riviera, said it would permanently shut on 5 January following new animal welfare laws.

The legislation, which bans the use of dolphins and whales in marine zoo shows, was passed in 2021 but comes into effect next year.

Marineland, which describes itself as the largest of its kind in Europe, currently keeps two killer whales - Wikie, 23, and her 11-year-old son Keijo.

Managers say shows featuring killer whales and dolphins attract 90% of Marineland's visitors – and that without it the business isn't viable.

Several destinations for the whales have been proposed but there is disagreement on where they should go and what should happen to them.

Most experts agree that releasing the two whales, which are Icelandic orcas specifically, into the wild would not be suitable as both were born in captivity and would not have the skills to survive.

"It's a bit like taking your dog out of the house and sending him into the woods to live freely as a wolf," says Hanne Strager.

In 2023 the marine biologist published The Killer Whale Journals, which details her decades long interest in the ocean predator and how they behave.

"Those whales, that have spent their entire lives in captivity, their closest relationship is with humans. They are the ones who have provided them with food, care, activities and social relations.

"Killer whales are highly social animals, as social as we [humans] are, and they depend on social bonds. They have established those bonds with their trainers … They depend on humans and that is the only thing they know."

A deal to send Wikie and Keijo to a marine zoo in Japan, backed by managers at Marineland, caused outcry among campaigners who said they would receive worse treatment.

Last November the French government blocked the deal, saying the animal welfare laws in Japan were relaxed compared to those in Europe and that the 13,000km (8,000 mile) journey would cause stress to the orcas.

Another option is to send them to a Spanish marine zoo in the Canary Islands.

Loro Parque, in Tenerife, complies with European animal welfare standards but campaigners fear Wikie and Keijo will still be made to perform there.

There have also been several orca deaths there in the last few years.

A 29-year-old male called Keto passed away in November and three other orcas died there between March 2021 and September 2022.

Loro Parque say scientific examinations of those three orcas by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria show the deaths were unavoidable.

Katheryn Wise, from the charity World Animal Protection (Wap), tells the BBC: "It would be devastating for Wikie and Keijo to end up in another entertainment venue like Loro Parque – from one whale jail to another."

Wap want the orcas to be rehomed in an adapted ocean bay.

"[We and] many others have urged the government of France to do everything it can to facilitate the movement of the orcas to a sanctuary off the coast of Nova Scotia."

'We'll close off a bay for them'

The organisation hoping to build the facility in eastern Canada say it would be able to attract funding if it received a commitment from the French government to send the two whales there.

The Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP) proposes to close off an area of seawater measuring 40 hectares (98 acres) with nets.

Wikie and Keijo could then use the large expanse of water, with human support from vets and welfare workers, until the end of their lives.

The average lifespan of a male killer whale is about 30 years, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agency. Females usually live about 50 years.

"Life at the sanctuary will be as close as is possible to what they would have experienced growing up in the ocean," say the WSP. "It will be a new life that will make up for so much of what went before."

This kind of project has been done before.

Keiko, the orca that starred in the 1993 move Free Willy, was rescued from captivity in 1996 before being taken to a bay in Iceland in 1998.

Unlike Wikie and Keijo, he was born in the wild and was able to relearn some of the necessary survival skills while living in the bay for four years.

He eventually left with a pod of orcas he had joined and swam to Norway where he died in 2003 following an infection.

Strager warns that the proposed sanctuary might feel as alien to Wikie and Keijo as open ocean would.

"We have this conception that animals enjoy freedom in the same sense we do, 'now they are free and they will love it.'

"We don't know if they see freedom the same way ... Are they going to be scared because it is so different to what they're used to? I don't know."

She tells the BBC: "I don't think there are any good solutions for animals that have been kept in captivity their whole lives."

More than 4,000 animals will be moved out of Marineland, which was founded in 1970 by Count Roland de la Poype.

He was a decorated fighter pilot who fought during World War Two before establishing himself in the plastics industry and opening Marineland due to his interest in sea life.

The closure of his passion project is the latest step in a campaign targeting marine zoos that has gained momentum over the last 15 years.

The actress Pamela Anderson called for the closure of Marineland in 2017 and held a protest outside its entrance saying "captivity kills".

In 2013, the documentary Blackfish detailed how an orca called Tilikum killed trainer Dawn Brancheau after a show at SeaWorld Orlando in 2010.

He grabbed her and dragged her into the water where he tore off her arm and drowned her.

The film also outlines how Tilikum was also involved in the deaths of two other people.

Researchers interviewed in the film argued that orcas captured from the wild and trained to perform become violent in captivity.

Visitor numbers and financial revenues at SeaWorld suffered in the aftermath of the documentary and in 2016 they suspended their captive breeding programme.

They rejected calls to release their remaining orcas into the wild, saying they would likely die if left to fend for themselves.

Eighteen months ago they opened a new marine zoo in the United Arab Emirates, SeaWorld's first outside the US.

The new facility in Abu Dhabi is a $1.2bn (£966m) venture with state-owned leisure developer Miral and boasts the largest aquarium in the world.

There aren't any orcas on show here but, to the dismay of campaigners, dolphins still are.

Wap have helped convince Expedia not to sell any more holidays involving performances by dolphins in captivity and want other travel companies to do the same.

"Blackfish was more than a hit – it was a phenomenon," writes the scientist Naomi Rose in a report by Wap. "I am convinced it pushed western society past the tipping point on the subject of captive cetaceans."

Find yourself in a marquee on a Saturday afternoon where there's a bar with wine and beer, gags being cracked, and speeches being made and you might think it's a wedding.

But the marquee at Chelmsford City Racecourse on Saturday was packed with more than 1,000 people who had turned up to a Reform UK rally, where the best man's speech and jokes were provided by the MP Lee Anderson, the crowd sang 'Here We Go' as he took the stage and the star turn who arrived to his own thumping sound track was Nigel Farage.

The crowd seemed to be having fun, even though it is plain some of those gathered there have been drawn in because they are deeply disgruntled with the status quo in the UK.

One grandfather told me he felt "emotionally angry even talking to you and keeping my composure", citing illegal immigration and the grooming scandal as the reason for his unhappiness.

A newly joined party member said he was there because Farage "is a breath of fresh air" and current politicians were failing to give younger generations a chance to get on.

And a Reform councillor from Suffolk said people were cross about the idea of pylons going everywhere as the government plans more green energy. They might have listed different reasons. But that obvious unhappiness is what seems to be driving the rapid growth of Reform UK.

As if by magic, when Farage was on stage the party's membership passed 170,000, and two hours later the party told me they had added another 1,000.

With new financial backers and a rapidly growing base, Reform UK does, at this moment, seem to have what they brag is the big momentum. Farage claims he's putting the party on the path to win the next election.

The Reform leader has never been short on ambition – it goes far beyond his obvious desire to be a political celebrity, which he achieved long ago, and beyond the UK leaving the EU, in which his decades of agitating played a huge part.

The mood in a packed room in Chelmsford made it clear Farage and his growing party reckon they can shake everything up.

And he's not hanging around in 2025. He has made two big speeches over the past few days, is the first UK political leader of the year to appear on a public platform – and he'll be appearing on our Sunday programme this week.

But how realistic is that ambition to win power – and when will we know whether Reform's growing support is here to stay?

Tactics and controversy

Since the election, Labour's sagging popularity and the Tories' doldrums have made space that Farage, and his four fellow Reform MPs, have stepped into. The party has used his tried and tested techniques, talking about issues in a way that other politicians just won't. He would say those politicians are too cautious or politically correct – they'd say they have a responsibility not to stir up tensions.

I'll always remember intakes of breath around Westminster when he unveiled his poster depicting refugees on the continent and claiming immigration was at "breaking point" during the EU referendum in 2016. Some other Leave campaigners said it made them "shudder" and it was even reported to the police. But did it stir up a conversation about the EU that Farage wanted? It certainly did.

Years later, now with a perch in Parliament, Mr Farage was met with howls of criticism when he questioned the police's assessment of what had gone on in the Southport attacks. His willingness to jump into controversy is part of the brand - and for his backers, part of the appeal.

Trump and Musk

Who'd know a thing or two about that? Enter Farage's two pals across the Atlantic – one of them, Donald Trump, will in two weeks again be the most powerful man in the Western world, and the other is a tech billionaire, Elon Musk.

From the outside it's hard to tell how deep these friendships are – whether the Reform gang lurk on the fringes waiting to be invited for brief chats, or whether over time Musk and Trump will donate political fire power (or even cash through Musk's UK business).

But without question, these unusual bromances give more oxygen to Reform UK, and for the leader of a small UK party to have a direct line to the White House and the richest man in the world is hard to ignore. Can you imagine Ed Davey hanging out with Jeff Bezos? Or John Swinney spending time with Mark Zuckerberg?

Making headlines is not, of course, the same as getting people on side, and while these high-wattage friendships are a draw for some voters, they risk hurting Reform with others.

Musk, who appears to have a fixation with the UK, on Friday accused PM Sir Keir Starmer of being complicit in the "rape of Britain" by not going after gangs grooming and abusing vulnerable young girls – it's hard to think of a more offensive charge, and Labour's Wes Streeting branded it "misjudged and certainly misinformed".

Musk also suggested safeguarding minister Jess Phillips "deserves to be in prison" after she rejected a request for the Home Office to order a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham. Phillips had said the council should commission a local inquiry instead, as happened in Rotherham and Telford. In a further post on X on Saturday, Musk said "what an evil human" in response to a video showing a previous appearance by Phillips on Question Time.

And in the last couple of days Musk has been tweeting support for right-wing activist Tommy Robinson, a man with criminal convictions who Nigel Farage tried incredibly hard to distance himself from. Farage described Musk as a "hero" for buying Twitter, but conceded he has "a whole range of opinions, some of which I agree with very strongly, and others of which I am more reticent about".

Cash and growth

So Farage has new friends and new energy – and what has also changed since the election is Reform's potentially bulging bank balance.

Whether you like it or not, money matters in politics. It's needed to pay for a lot of the unglamorous but vital work, such as hiring political organisers, opening local branches, and managing Farage's burgeoning social media accounts. Since the recruitment of Nick Candy, a billionaire and former Conservative donor, as the party's new treasurer, Farage has an ally who can write big cheques to support all that – he has promised to give Reform a seven-figure sum.

The latest recorded donation figures show donations of only £70,000 for the third quarter of 2024, but that seems set to change. The party's website is advertising jobs, and Reform is putting on regular events and building its membership around the country, which it says is now bigger than the Conservatives' rank and file.

Over the next week Farage is appearing in Leicester, Chelmsford, Esher, and Chester. The party is yet to make a huge amount of noise in the Commons with their tiny band of MPs, but their whole persona is to do politics in a new way, outside Parliament.

As they grow, so too will the scrutiny they face.

There is likely to be more checking back over what they branded their "contract with the people" in the general election. They promised to cut £5 out of every £100 in government spending within a hundred days, end shortages of doctors and nurses over the same time and give tax breaks to anyone who wanted to pay to go private in the NHS. They promised a freeze on non-essential immigration, more police, big changes to education, massive changes to the benefit system, and cutting tax while increasing spending on defence.

To some voters their plans might sound like an appealing pick and mix, but there are big questions over whether many of the plans are remotely workable.

And it's not just their policies they need people to get behind – it's their personnel, too. In the general election, as we revealed, candidates who wanted to stand for the party had expressed offensive views Reform found hard to defend. As they seek to expand, have they come up with a cast of characters the general public could get behind?

Success - a distant prospect?

Voters attracted to Reform don't come from any one political tribe, but ask pollsters and they share a sentiment – they're pretty peeved with the UK in 2025.

Luke Tryl from the research group More In Common says the party has prospered because of dissatisfaction with the Conservatives and disappointment with the early signs from Labour.

He says their ratings have bumped up from around 15 to 20% thanks to people who previously would have said they liked Farage but were worried about him as PM, but are now saying, "well we've tried the Tories they didn't work, Labour have taken away my mum's winter fuel allowance, so we may as well try Reform".

Their current polling suggests they could, theoretically, nab dozens of seats from Labour, although their actual backers are mainly former Conservative voters - and a general election is years away.

And unlike the other main political parties the chance someone would vote Reform does not change that much on the age you are. Their average voter is a Gen X man – born between the mid-sixties and 1980. It's only among older pensioners that research suggests the level of support falls away. The pattern doesn't seem to follow the cliché that parties on the right grab elderly traditional 'small c' conservatives.

In other words, the environment is ripe for Farage to thrive. But as his own political career demonstrates very vividly, political fashions come and go.

Labour hopes desperately that doing the hard yards will pay off, restore their popularity, and they will be able to improve the country in at least some of the ways they promised you back in July. The Conservatives fervently hope that before too long their new leader Badenoch can make some progress.

In 2025, the public will decide whether the party continues its march - or mucks up the opportunity it has. There will be tests during important elections in Wales, and contests for local mayors and local councils in May.

A senior government figure told me "we shouldn't over think" the threat from Reform. But not to think hard about the party could prove foolish indeed.

Farage's dream of a general election victory is years away and politically distant too. But he hopes in 2025 to prove that by the end of this year, it's an ambition that will look less far-fetched.

Top picture credit: Getty Images

Watch Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on iPlayer or on BBC One on Sundays at 09:00

Sign up for the Off Air with Laura K newsletter to get Laura Kuenssberg's expert insight and insider stories every week, emailed directly to you.

BBC InDepth is the new home on the website and app for the best analysis and expertise from our top journalists. Under a distinctive new brand, we’ll bring you fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions, and deep reporting on the biggest issues to help you make sense of a complex world. And we’ll be showcasing thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. We’re starting small but thinking big, and we want to know what you think - you can send us your feedback by clicking on the button below.