A digital van carrying a message aimed at Elon Musk was driven past the Houses of Parliament on Monday morning, six days after US midterm elections in which the billionaire was the biggest individual donor.
The van appeared in Westminster at around 7am on Monday 9 November. Its screen read: “No congrats this time, Elon. Your $446 million couldn’t buy the US elections. British democracy isn’t for sale either.”
The figure refers to Musk’s political giving ahead of the US midterm elections on 3 November. He gave $446 million (£331 million) to influence the races, the most by any donor in modern American history, according to a Washington Post tracker of Federal Election Commission filings reported by BBC Verify.
Much of the money went to America PAC, the super PAC Musk founded, which focused on getting Republican voters to the polls. Democrats won all five Senate seats in which America PAC had invested most heavily, the BBC reported. The Financial Times calculated that, relative to Musk’s wealth, the sum was the equivalent of a millionaire contributing $400.
Musk responded to the results on X, the social media platform he owns. He wrote: “guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time.”
The second line of the van’s message refers to Musk’s involvement in British politics. In February he posted on X urging people to “Join Rupert Lowe in Restore Britain”. Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth and leader of Restore Britain, has earned the equivalent of £932 an hour from his posts on X since the start of the year, according to a Guardian analysis of his entries in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. X pays users through a revenue-sharing scheme linked to engagement with their posts.
Musk has previously been linked to Reform UK. In December 2024, reports suggested he was considering a donation of up to $100 million (£80 million) to the party, which would have been the largest in British political history. In January 2025 he posted that Nigel Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead Reform UK.
