Elon Musk's electric car giant Tesla urged the UK government to make drivers of petrol vehicles "pay more" in the wake of Labour's election win.
Tesla chief Musk, who was heavily involved in Trump's successful presidential campaign, has not shied away from wading in on UK politics, being openly critical of prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and predicting "civil war".
But, the BBC reports, it has now emerged his company, in the background, was lobbying the new government to extend a petrol policy that would boost Tesla's profits.
Tesla urged the Labour government to extend the mandate designed to boost electric car sales to lorries, suggesting electric vehicle subsidies could be funded by taxing people purchasing cars that run on petrol or diesel.
In a letter penned in July, newly released under Freedom of Information legislation, Joe Ward, Tesla's European boss told roads minister Lilian Greenwood: "The government should ask those still choosing to purchase a new polluting vehicle, to pay more."
The letter, revealed after the FOI request by EV newsletter The Fast Charge, external, showed Tesla "applauded" the Labour government's "strong position" on decarbonisation of the energy system by 2030, growth and net zero.
The letter came weeks before Musk publicly hit out at the UK government on his social media platform X over the summer riots.