Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes Nigel Farage would be a better leader than Sir Keir Starmer after meeting both politicians, though he insisted the current Prime Minister is a ‘nice man’. The INEOS billionaire, who previously ditched the UK and changed his tax residence to Monaco, has been making headlines with his comments on the current state of Britain. The Manchester United co-owner recently claimed that immigrants had ‘colonised’ the UK while making a false claim about a massive population increase over the last five years.

Ratcliffe told Sky News: “The UK has been colonised by immigrants, really, hasn’t it? I mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it’s 70 million. That’s 12 million people.” However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that the population of the UK was 67 million in mid-2020 and 70 million in mid-2024. The population figure was estimated at 58.9 million in 2000.

Ratcliffe recently met with Farage, the Reform leader, and spoke highly of him in the same Sky News interview. Previously, he was pictured chatting with Starmer during Manchester United‘s game against Arsenal at Old Trafford in 2024.

The business mogul, who owns a minority stake in the Red Devils, had good things to say about both men but hinted that he would prefer Farage to lead the country because he is not afraid to be ‘unpopular’.

“I don’t know whether it’s just the apparatus that hasn’t allowed Keir to do it or, or he’s maybe too nice,” said Ratcliffe. “I mean, Keir is a nice man. I like him.

“But it’s a tough job and I think you have to do some difficult things with the UK to get it back on track, because at the moment I don’t think the economy is in a good state.

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“I think Nigel is an intelligent man and I think he’s got good intentions. But in a way, you could say exactly the same about Keir Starmer. I think it needs somebody who’s prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out.”

Starmer issued a quick response to Ratcliffe’s comments about immigrants, describing the United part-owner’s remarks as ‘offensive and wrong’ and urging him to backtrack.

In a post on social media, the Prime Minister said: “Offensive and wrong. Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country. Jim Ratcliffe should apologise.”

Farage later backed Ratcliffe’s view, saying: “The country has undergone unprecedented mass immigration that has changed the character of many areas in the country. Labour may try and ignore that but Reform won’t.”