Starmer Says Musk Attacks on UK Mean Line Has Been Crossed
(Bloomberg) -- Keir Starmer condemned Elon Musk’s barrage of social media posts attacking his UK government, his strongest response yet amid an escalating row with the billionaire Donald Trump ally that risks damaging relations between Britain and the US.
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The UK Prime Minister said a “line has been crossed” after one of his ministers, Jess Phillips, received threats in the wake of posts on X by Musk that she was a “rape genocide apologist” who should go to prison for her handling of a child sex abuse scandal in the UK.
“When the poison of the far-right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others, then in my book a line has been crossed,” Starmer told reporters on Monday in response to a question about the billionaire’s social media activity. “I enjoy the cut and thrust of politics, the robust debate that we must have, but that’s got to be based on fact and truth, not on lies.”
Why Musk Waded Into UK Child Grooming Gangs Scandal: QuickTake
While the premier didn’t directly name Musk, his remarks clearly referred to the billionaire’s online salvo, illustrating the risk he poses to UK-US relations ahead of Trump’s inauguration later this month. The world’s richest man is set to take a key role in Trump’s administration and as well as repeatedly attacking Starmer’s government, he’s endorsed an opposition party, Reform UK, and called for the release from jail of the far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson.
Starmer said “those that are spreading lies and misinformation” were “not interested in victims.”
Musk accused Phillips — a Home Office minister who before entering politics helped manage women’s refuges for victims of domestic abuse — of blocking a national government-led inquiry into a so-called child grooming scandal involving mainly Pakistani men in British towns dating back over the last two decades.
Musk’s interest in Britain has become a key theme of British politics in recent months. Since Starmer’s Labour won the general election last July, the Trump ally has repeatedly railed against his administration, stoking tensions during riots over the summer by saying that “civil war is inevitable” and then accusing the new government of suppressing freedom of speech after far-right rioters were jailed following the disorder.
In his volley of attacks since the new year, Musk has also questioned Starmer’s actions in his role as Director of Public Prosecutions before entering politics, saying he’s “complicit” in the child grooming scandal, calling him a “national embarrassment” and saying he, too, should be in jail.
The continuing onslaught is an unwelcome distraction for the British prime minister as he seeks to start 2025 on the front foot following a rocky first 6 months in office dominated by a series of unpopular budgetary decisions and a scandal over freebies that he and other cabinet members accepted before entering government. His speech on Monday concerned reforms to the National Health Service, but was overshadowed by questions from journalists about Musk.
Starmer defended his record as chief prosecutor, saying he brought the first major prosecution of an Asian grooming gang, changed the way such cases were investigated and prosecuted, and brought in mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse. He also sought to turn the attention on the main opposition Conservative Party — which has backed Musk’s call for a public inquiry into grooming gangs — saying “I’m not going to individualize this to Elon Musk.”
“I’m very concerned about where the Tory party is going on this,” Starmer said. “What I won’t tolerate is politicians jumping on the bandwagon, simply to get attention. But those politicians sat in government for 14 long years, tweeting, talking, but not doing anything about it. Now so desperate for attention, that they’re amplifying what the far right is saying.”
Musk’s attacks leave open the question of how Starmer will contend with such an influential global figure who is still a close ally of Trump waging a campaign against the UK government, and whether Musk will be able to convince the incoming president to take a similar stance.
That prospect is in focus as Britain contends with the threat of tariffs imposed by the US and tries to persuade Trump to maintain support for Ukraine during the war with Russia.
As well as slamming Labour, Musk has endorsed Reform, the populist right-wing party led by Brexit campaigner and Trump friend Nigel Farage, leading to speculation that he could make a sizable donation to an opponent of the Labour government. Farage visited Musk in Mar-a-Lago in December as their alliance appeared to grow.
But in a remarkable twist, that bond appeared to shatter over the weekend when Musk endorsed Robinson, from whom Farage has long distanced himself. Representatives of the British right privately expressed their concerns to allies of Trump that Musk had made a mistake in backing Robinson, and Farage himself said he didn’t agree with Musk that Robinson was a political prisoner.
That led Musk to come out against Farage, posting on Sunday that he didn’t “have what it takes” to lead Reform. The sudden split between Musk and Farage appears to have given Starmer confidence to respond to Musk’s attacks, when only last week the premier tried to avoid engaging with his posts.
(Updates with Starmer remarks, context, starting in third paragraph.)
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