Elon Musk has met Nigel Farage and Nick Candy, Reform UK’s new treasurer, at Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, reviving speculation the tech billionaire could fund the hard-right party.

After the meeting on Monday, Reform released photos of Musk sitting with Farage and Candy, and standing with them beneath a portrait of a young Trump at the US president-elect’s Florida home.

The party released a statement by the Reform leader and Candy in which they said they had met Musk for an hour.

“We learned a great deal about the Trump ground game and will have ongoing discussions on other areas,” it added. “We only have one more chance left to save the west and we can do great things together. Our thanks also to President Trump for allowing us to use Mar-a-Lago for this historic meeting. The special relationship is alive and well.”

Musk, who has waged an increasingly personal campaign against Keir Starmer and the Labour party, earlier this month denied a report that he was planning to make a £78m donation to Reform.

However, there will now be increased speculation that he could intervene in UK politics and help Reform’s prospects before next year’s local elections.

Writing in the Telegraph on Tuesday night, Farage said: “There is little doubt that Musk’s contribution to the scale of the Trump victory is not to be underestimated. I have come home with copious notes of how they increased the turnout, voter registration and so much more, and all of this I intend to implement as part of the professionalisation of our party.”

Farage said Musk “described the Labour and Conservative parties as the uniparty and left us with no doubt that he is right behind us.

“Inevitably, following such intense media speculation, the issue of money was discussed, and there will be ongoing negotiations on that score.”

Farage and Candy did not see Trump, who was meeting tech billionaires on a day when the CEO of the Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank appeared alongside him to announce plans to invest $100bn in the US.

However, the Guardian understands they did meet the US vice-president-elect, JD Vance, who is the favourite to run as the Republican candidate in the 2028 presidential election. Vance, who was a venture capitalist before entering politics, has close to links to US tech figures, including Peter Thiel.

Candy, a billionaire property developer and former Conservative donor, was unveiled by Farage last week as Reform’s new treasurer, with the task of raising funds to fight the next general election.

While electoral laws in Britain stipulate all donations and loans to political parties worth more than £500 must come from donors registered in the UK, there are avenues Musk could use to back Reform.

Options include going through the UK arm of his social media company, X, or by securing UK citizenship, for which his father, Errol, says he is eligible because his grandmother was British.