London – On January 3, a senior British government minister criticized Elon Musk’s recent comments on UK politics as “misjudged and certainly misinformed.” The tech billionaire had accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of failing to bring “rape gangs” to justice during his tenure as director of public prosecutions.
In a series of posts on his X platform, Musk also suggested that Jess Phillips, the minister for the prevention of violence against women and girls, “deserves to be in prison” for refusing a request for a national public inquiry into a child sexual exploitation scandal in Oldham. Health Secretary Wes Streeting responded, stating that Musk’s comments were wide of the mark and that the government takes child sexual exploitation “incredibly seriously.”
Streeting added, “Some of the criticisms that Elon Musk has made, I think are misjudged and certainly misinformed, but we’re willing to work with Elon Musk, who I think has got a big role to play with his social media platform to help us and other countries to tackle this serious issue. So if he wants to work with us and roll his sleeves up, we’d welcome that.”
The widespread abuse of girls in several English towns and cities, including Rochdale, Rotherham, and Oldham, has long stirred controversy. Court cases have led to the convictions of dozens of men, mostly of South Asian Muslim origin, with victims being vulnerable, mostly white, girls. Official inquiries found that some officials turned a blind eye to avoid appearing racist.
Far-right figures, including Tommy Robinson, have seized upon these scandals. Robinson was imprisoned in October for contempt of court over a long-running libel case involving a Syrian refugee. Musk claimed that Robinson was in prison “for telling the truth” and should be freed.
Most of Musk’s messages focused on Robinson’s highlighting of historical scandals involving alleged paedophile grooming gangs. Musk noted that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decides whether to charge suspects and questioned Starmer’s role as head of the CPS from 2008 to 2013. However, none of the probes singled out Starmer for blame or found that he blocked prosecutions due to concerns over alleged Islamophobia.
Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, disagreed with Musk about Robinson, stating that Robinson was in prison for contempt of court, not for fighting against grooming gangs. Farage added that Musk was “very supportive” of him and his party.