The war of words between U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and X boss Elon Musk shows no signs of slowing down.
On Monday, Starmer finally addressed Musk’s criticism of his recent handling of the U.K.’s historic rape gang crisis, in which grooming gangs, reportedly made up predominantly of men of Pakistani descent, targeted young girls. During a press conference, Starmer said: “Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims. They’re interested in themselves.”
Musk responded on X, posting: “What an insane thing to say! The real reason [the government is not holding an inquiry into the scandal] is that it would show how Starmer repeatedly ignored the pleas of vast numbers of little girls and their parents, in order to secure political support. Starmer is utterly despicable.”
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The brouhaha kicked off last week after the U.K.’s home office minister Jess Phillips denied a request to hold a government inquiry into the historic systemic abuse of young women by the gangs across U.K. cities including Rotherham, Oldham, Rochdale and Bristol. A previous inquiry found that in Rotherham alone over 1,400 children had been sexually abused over a 16-year period, mostly by British Pakistani men, according to the BBC.
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While there have been a number of local inquiries, Oldham Council recently requested a national one led by the government. It was this that Phillips rebuffed last week.
Her denial was quickly picked up by Musk, who waded into the controversy, tweeting: “She deserves to be in prison.”
Musk continued to post about the scandal over the weekend, with tweets and retweets ranging from court transcripts from some of the sexual abuse cases to support for British far-right agitator Tommy Robinson. He also repeatedly criticized Starmer and the U.K. government.
On Monday morning Starmer was asked about Musk, and responded: “On the question of Elon Musk. Look, I think most people are more interested in what’s going to happen to the NHS [National Health Service], frankly, than what’s happening on Twitter.”
Starmer then defended his record on the issue, including his time as chief prosecutor when, he said: “I brought the first major prosecution of an Asian grooming gang, in the particular case it was in Rochdale, but it was the first of its kind….when I left office, we had the highest number of child sexual abuse cases being prosecuted on record.”
He added: “Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims. They’re interested in themselves. Those who are cheerleading Tommy Robinson aren’t interested in justice. They’re supporting a man who went to prison for nearly collapsing a grooming case, a gang grooming case. These are people who are trying to get some kind of vicarious thrill from street violence that people like Tommy Robinson promote. And those attacking Jess Phillips, who I’m proud to call a colleague and a friend, are not protecting victims. Jess Phillips has done a thousand times more than they’ve even dreamt about when it comes to protecting victims of sexual abuse throughout her entire career. And so just as I took on the criminal justice system and the institutions when I was chief prosecutor, I’m prepared to call out this for what it is.”
“I enjoy the cut and thrust of politics, the robust debate that we must have, but that’s got to be based on facts and truth, not on lies,” Starmer continued. “Not on those who are so desperate for attention that they’re prepared to debase themselves and their country. So this government will get on with the job of protecting victims, including child sexual abuse, mandatory reporting, accelerating the processes. But what I won’t tolerate is this discussion and debate based on lies without calling it out.”
Starmer’s words haven’t cowed Musk, however, who continued to tweet about the scandal throughout Monday. He currently has a poll running on his X profile page asking “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.” At time of publication, over 60% of respondents had voted “Yes.”
