Elon Musk has called for a “dissolution of parliament” and a “change of government” in the UK while addressing the crowd attending the “unite the kingdom” rally, organised by the far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson.
The X owner, who dialled in via a video link and spoke to Robinson while thousands of attenders watched along, also railed against the “woke mind virus” and told the crowd that “violence is coming” and that “you either fight back or you die”.
Speaking at the rally, he said: “I really think that there’s got to be a change of government in Britain. You can’t – we don’t have another four years, or whenever the next election is, it’s too long. Something’s got to be done. There’s got to be a dissolution of parliament and a new vote held.”
This is not the first time Musk has involved himself in British politics. He started a war of words with the UK government over the grooming gangs scandal, and also criticised the Online Safety Act, calling the legislation a threat to free speech.
Aerial footage shows scale of ‘unite the kingdom’ rally – video
He had a warm relationship with Nigel Farage, and there were even rumours he could channel a donation to his party before the Tesla boss called for the Reform UK leader to be replaced during a dispute over his support for Robinson.
Musk told the crowd in central London that he wants to appeal to “British common sense”, saying: “My appeal is to British common sense, which is to look carefully around you and say: ‘If this continues, what world will you be living in?’
Katie Hopkins (l) with Tommy Robinson at the unite the kingdom rally in central London on Saturday. Photograph: Lucy North/PA
“This is a message to the reasonable centre, the people who ordinarily wouldn’t get involved in politics, who just want to live their lives. They don’t want that, they’re quiet, they just go about their business.
“My message is to them: if this continues, that violence is going to come to you, you will have no choice. You’re in a fundamental situation here. Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die, that’s the truth, I think.”
The tech billionaire also told the crowd “the left are the party of murder”, referring to the death of Charlie Kirk. He said: “There’s so much violence on the left, with our friend Charlie Kirk getting murdered in cold blood this week and people on the left celebrating it openly. The left is the party of murder and celebrating murder. I mean, let that sink in for a minute, that’s who we’re dealing with here.”
Also in his speech to the unite the kingdom marchers, he also criticised what he called the woke mind virus and said decisions for advancement should be on merit rather than “discrimination on the basis of sex, or religion or any race or anything else”.
He said: “A lot of the woke stuff is actually super-racist, it’s super-sexist and often it’s anti-religion, but only anti-Christian, like why anti-Christian? That’s unfair … that should be all that matters, the woke mind virus, that I call it, is against all that.”
More than 110,000 people were estimated to have taken part in the far-right street rally, in what is thought to be one of the largest nationalist events in decades. The marchers were faced by about 5,000 anti-racist counter-protesters.
In addition to Musk, figures including Katie Hopkins and French far-right politician Éric Zemmour were invited to speak at the event.
PA Media contributed to this report