Nigel Farage claims Elon Musk was ‘trying to encourage him’ by calling for him to be sacked

Nigel Farage has claimed Elon Musk was "just trying to encourage" him when he called for him to be sacked as the leader of Reform UK.

The former Ukip leader had a spectacular falling out with the billionaire adviser to Donald Trump earlier this year.

At its height, just hours after Mr Farage claimed his friendship with the Tesla founder made his party “cool”, Mr Musk called for him to be replaced at the top of Reform.

The row erupted over Mr Musk's support for jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

Mr Farage has consistently opposed allowing Robinson to join his political parties, describing him as "thuggish".

At the time there had been speculation that Mr Musk could donate $100m to Reform, in what would have been the largest political donation in British history.

But after the two men fell out Mr Musk backed the now-independent MP Rupert Lowe, suggesting he could take over Reform.

Asked about the row on BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Farage said he had since met Mr Musk and discussed the row.

"We talked about it," he said, adding: "He was just trying to encourage me in a few policy areas, ones I wasn't prepared to go down."

He was also probed over his claim that his association with Mr Musk made the party look “cool”, just hours before the entrepreneur suggested Mr Farage should be replaced.

He said Mr Musk would “say what he wants to say at any moment in time”.

But, he added, “as far as young people are concerned in Britain, we are certainly cooler than the other parties”.

Before their row, Mr Farage said of the US President’s ‘first buddy’: “The shades, the bomber jacket, the whole vibe. Elon makes us cool – Elon is a huge help to us with the young generation, and that will be the case going on, and frankly that’s only just starting.

“Reform only wins the next election if it gets the youth vote. The youth vote is the key. Of course you need voters of all ages, but if you get a wave of youth enthusiasm you can change everything.

“And I think we’re beginning to get into that zone – we were anyway, but Elon makes the whole task much, much easier. And the idea that politics can be cool, politics can be fun, politics can be real – Elon helps us with that mission enormously.”