FAR-RIGHT billionaire Elon Musk is wading into the split in the Reform party amid speculation he will fund a hard-right rival.

Reform’s owner and leader Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe, one of the party’s five MPs, appear irreconcilable as their rift deepens daily.

Mr Lowe aroused Mr Farage’s ire by describing him as “messianic” and questioning whether he was properly preparing the party for government.

Reform responded by suspending Mr Lowe and reporting him to the police on a range of allegations, all of which the MP strongly denies and may take legal action over.

Mr Musk had already tweeted support for Mr Lowe as a replacement for Mr Farage at Reform’s helm, apparently because he seemed warmer to imprisoned far-right grifter Tommy Robinson.

That division put paid to the prospect of a donation from Mr Musk of as much as one hundred million dollars to Reform, cash which now could be flung behind Mr Lowe if he launches a rival party.

Mr Lowe has positioned himself to the right of Mr Farage, in particular by championing the mass deportation of migrants.   

He claims to be targeted as a “tall poppy” and did not rule out joining the Tories.

He is not the first Reform luminary to fall out with the imperious Mr Farage, who is making heavy weather of shifting Reform from being his private property to a more conventionally constituted operation.

Jeremy Hosking, the businessman funding yet another hard right outfit, the Reclaim party headed by actor and culture war obsessive Laurence Fox, has suggested that Mr Lowe join forces with them.

The row, which shows no signs of abating, could affect Reform’s election prospects — it has surged into the lead in many opinion surveys, and consistently polls above the Tories.