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British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has hit back at Elon Musk for his comments on Britain’s handling of historic sexual abuse cases, while French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed concern over the billionaire’s interventions in European politics.
Musk has criticized Starmer and UK Protection Minister Jess Phillips in a series of posts on X in recent days, mainly to complain about the failure to hold perpetrators to account.
In a speech in Epsom, Surrey on Monday, Starmer said “a line has been crossed”, adding that “those who spread lies and disinformation as far and wide as possible are not interested in victims – they are. interested in themselves.
The prime minister’s comments come as other European leaders react to Musk’s growing social media interventions in the continent’s politics, with Macron particularly expressing concern over the role of the billionaire confidant of US President-elect Donald Trump.
Starmer said: “We have seen this playbook time and time again – stoking intimidation and threats of violence, hoping the media will amplify it. . . When the poison of the far right leads to serious threats against Jess Phillips and others, then, in my book, a line has been crossed.”
Musk, who has repeatedly posted about British politics since Labor’s election in July, recently described Phillips as a “rape genocide apologist” and a “wicked witch.”
He has posted dozens of times about a historic scandal involving sex grooming gangs in the north of England.
On Monday, Musk responded: “Starmer was deeply complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes. »
He appeared to be referring to the Prime Minister’s previous role, overseeing Britain’s prosecution service, when evidence of the existence of these gangs came to light more than a decade ago.
Later on Monday, Yvette Cooper, the UK’s Home Secretary, announced several initiatives to tackle child grooming gangs, including longer prison sentences, saying “punishment must be tailored to the terrible crime.”
Grooming will be treated as an aggravating circumstance, which makes a crime more serious, when judges sentence offenders for specific sexual offenses against children, including rape.
Cooper also told the House of Commons that the government would set up a new “victims and survivors panel” and make it mandatory to report abuse through the impending Crime and Custody Bill. order.
The allegations that Starmer bears some responsibility for the failure to bring the grooming gangs to justice arise, in particular, from a case that arose in 2009 when a decision was made not to prosecute the alleged perpetrators in the town of Rochdale.
Lawyers at the time thought the victim would not come across as reliable or credible.
Starmer had been director of public prosecutions for nine months when the decision was made, but there is no indication he was briefed on the details of the case at that time.
Starmer said on Monday that as chief prosecutor for five years he tackled gangs head-on and reopened various cases, noting: “When I left office we had the highest number of cases of child sexual abuse prosecuted never recorded.”
He also criticized those – including Musk – who supported far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, saying he was a man who went to prison for nearly botching a grooming case.
In his comments, Macron expressed concern over Elon Musk’s support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party ahead of next month’s German elections.
“If we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new reactionary international coalition [movement] and would intervene directly in elections, including in Germany, who would have imagined it? Macron said Monday at a conference of ambassadors. “This is the world we live in.”
But the German government has tried to downplay the role of the owner of X in the country’s politics.
“We act as if Mr. Musk’s statements on Twitter could influence a country of 84 million people with untruths, half-truths or expressions of opinion,” a spokesperson said Monday. “That’s just not the case.”
Kemi Badenoch, leader of Britain’s Conservatives, said his party would table an amendment to the Child Welfare Bill in Parliament on Wednesday, calling for a “full national inquiry into the rapist gang scandal”.
“If the amendment is accepted, I hope that MPs from all parties will vote to support the investigation, so that we can do the right thing by the victims and end the culture of cover-up,” he said. she declared.
But Starmer accused her of “jumping on the bandwagon” and “amplifying what the far right says” about child sexual abuse after failing to act “for 14 long years”.
Labor has criticized the last Conservative government for failing to implement the recommendations of a seven-year review into child sexual abuse in the UK, published in 2022.
Earlier on Monday, Musk, who was chosen by Trump to co-head the US government efficiency department, suggested the US should “liberate the British people” by overthrowing the government.
Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the speech was proof that the UK could not rely on the new Trump administration.
“People are fed up with Elon Musk meddling in our country’s democracy when he clearly knows nothing about Britain,” he added.
