The world’s richest man just helped Donald Trump return to the White House, but Elon Musk isn’t just interested in the future of the United States.

The billionaire is increasingly injecting himself into European politics.

Over the past six months, Musk has been outspoken about issues far beyond America’s borders.

The billionaire has argued that Britain is “turning into a police state” and claimed that the once-shunned German far-right political party Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) is the country’s “only hope”.

He’s also called for a new election in the United Kingdom, despite one being held in July last year, and argued that “only Reform can save Britain”.

Reform UK is a populist, right-wing political party led by Brexiteer Nigel Farage.

The pair met before Christmas at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, where they discussed political tactics and there are reports Musk is planning to donate up to $160 million to the party.

Farage told GB News that Musk said “he genuinely fears that the mother country of the English-speaking world is going down the tubes and he agrees Britain needs reform”, during their meeting.

This week, the US tech-mogul released a series of posts on his social media platform X in an apparent attempt to discredit UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

In several posts, he called for the release of far-right British activist Tommy Robinson, who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court for repeating false allegations a Syrian refugee schoolboy was a violent thug.

He also added his voice to calls for a national inquiry into a child abuse scandal that occurred in an English town from 1997 to 2013.

In 2014, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham, commissioned by the local council, found approximately 1,400 children were sexually abused by a network of men “with Pakistani heritage”.

Similar cases of abuse have been found in multiple UK towns and some perpetrators have been brought to justice.

Musk, in a post on X, accused Starmer, who was head of England’s Crown Prosecution Service for five years from 2008, of failing survivors.

Six hours later, the UK’s Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch echoed his calls for a national inquiry in a post on X.

Farage replied pointing out Badenoch’s Conservative Party had 14 years in government to launch their probe and elected not to.

It’s not the first time Musk has criticised the Starmer government. In July last year, as parts of England grappled with anti-immigration riots, Musk posted on X that “civil war is inevitable”.

Elsewhere, Musk has thrown his support behind Germany’s AfD party, describing them as the “last spark of hope” for the nation, and is set to host the party’s leader for a live interview on X.

He laid out his support for the party in an opinion piece for German newspaper, Welt am Sonntag, which led to the resignation of the masthead’s opinion editor and accusations from the government that Musk is attempting to influence next month’s German election.

Opinion polls are predicting the anti-immigration AfD party is on track to become the largest opposition group.

Musk argued his “significant investments” in Germany gave him a right to speak out about the nation’s politics.

UK, Europe in Musk’s sights

Richard Johnson, a senior lecturer in US and UK politics at Queen Mary University of London, says Musk’s family background plays a role in why he’s so interested in British affairs.

“His grandmother was English, she was from Liverpool and emigrated to South Africa, and Musk has talked about identifying as being of British or English heritage, not Afrikaner,” Dr Johnson said.

“He made visits to Britain all throughout his life, including in his childhood … this is not an unfamiliar environment for him to get into, in some ways, it’s the natural next country for him to extend his political influence.”

Musk also has an affinity with potent political and social issues that have dominated debate in the West in recent years, as evidenced in the UK’s July 2024 general election and again now in the lead-up to Germany’s ballot next month.

“The issues that he’s paid most attention to have been immigration and its associations with crime, free speech and online regulation, and gender and transgender issues,” Dr Johnson said.

“Again, I think that comes from his own particular background, being the father of a transgender child who he’s now cut off connection with.

“Those are clearly issues that are close to his heart and he pays attention to those, and he wants to shape the political conversation in Britain and in other countries.”

In a 2021 interview with The Babylon Bee podcast, Musk said the “woke mind virus is arguably one of the biggest threats to modern civilisation”.

The business mogul’s staunch views on hot-button issues align most closely with right-wing parties like the UK’s Reform and Germany’s AfD.

Michael Cox from the London School of Economics says “ego” can’t be ignored as another potential driver.

“The underlying facts are this is a very, very rich man, highly ambitious, and he wants to have much more than just influence in the United States,” Professor Cox said.

Then there’s his business interests.

In the wake of Trump’s US election victory, the share price for electric car maker Tesla, of which Musk owns the majority stake and is the CEO, has risen 66 per cent.

“In business, it’s often the case that the hype and the attention that you get, the aura that you can get as a business leader can actually be financially rewarding for you because when people are investing in a company, they’re also investing in you as a business leader,” Dr Johnson said.

“If you can show that you are a powerful person, that you have powerful contacts, that you can shape the political weather, that you can help elect a president of the United States, that perhaps you can completely up-end the British political party system … people assume that you’ll be able to find success in business as well, whether or not that’s always the case is a different matter.”

Why Musk may want a say in Australia

Musk played a pivotal role in Trump’s November election win in the US, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to the Republican nominee’s campaign.

He also campaigned with Trump and, at one stage, held a lottery where he handed out $US1 million ($1.6 million) a day to voters in swing states who had signed a petition “in favour of free speech and the right to bear arms”.

Some experts are warning Musk could be interested in Australia’s federal election, which must be held on or before May 17.

“I think globally, certainly Australia will be in his sights, I’d be interested to see what he says,” Professor Cox said.

“I suspect that the pressure he’s going to put on Australia, if it is pressure, is he’s going to try and move the Australian political debate further to the right and away from where it is at the moment, with Prime Minister Albanese.”

In November, the tech tycoon took a swipe at Albanese over the Labor Party’s plan to ban children from social media.

“Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians,” Musk replied to a post from Albanese on X.

The billionaire has previously demonstrated his ability to exert influence in Australia.

In 2017, Atlassian chief Mike Cannon-Brookes challenged Musk to build a battery that would improve the stability of South Australia’s power network.

Musk went on to win a tender that saw him build the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in the state.

Professor Cox says the global influence Musk wields should be taken seriously.

“It’s a pretty remarkable position he’s in now, I mean, it’s unprecedented.

“He’s also got a massive influence through representing in a sense, the future … he’s not a technophobe, he represents a kind of new technological shift, you know going to Mars, getting to the moon … there’s a kind of extraordinary character here, a new phenomenon in American politics and one that is already having a big impact, not only in the United States, but also around the world.”

Musk and Farage were contacted for comment.