Elon Musk's UK attacks: 'He doesn't give a damn about grooming victims'
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Elon Musk has turned his attention to UK politics, calling for the release of Tommy Robinson from prison, and the jailing of Keir Starmer, and is sharing disinformation about UK child sex abuse.
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In brief…
- Elon Musk has spent the first week of 2025 accusing British MPs of being “rape apologists” and sharing support for far-right agitator, Tommy Robinson.
- Keir Starmer was forced to address Musk’s online rants, in a speech The News Agents say may be the finest moment of his time as Prime Minister, so far.
- He has been “radicalised”, they say, and is now flooding the UK’s political sphere with “misinformation, lies and conspiracy”.
Elon Musk has spent the first days of 2025 calling for British MPs to be jailed and for the release of one of the country's most notorious, far-right criminals.
Having firmly wedged himself into US politics in 2024, and securing a role in Donald Trump's new administration, he has now turned his attention to the UK, and is using his online influence to stir things up on this side of the Atlantic.
Musk has called for the release of Tommy Robinson, the stage name of far-right activist Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, who is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court.
He was jailed after screening his documentary, Silenced, in London’s Trafalgar Square. The film falsely attempted to portray a 15-year-old Syrian refugee as a violent thug.
Yaxley-Lennon had previously been found guilty of libelling the Syrian teen, and an injunction had been placed on him, banning him from making the false claims again before he aired the documentary.
Musk has also been sharing details of the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal, in which groups of British-Pakistani men were involved in the grooming and rape of hundreds young girls. Keir Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions at the time, and faced criticism over delays in prosecution of the men involved.
He has called for "prison for Starmer", and claimed the PM is jailing people for memes posted online, but not for violent crime and rape.
He referred to Jess Phillips, the under-secretary of state for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, as a "rape genocide apologist". He has shared posts on X claiming Phillips has "blocked" an inquiry into grooming gangs. She had rejected Oldham’s request for a new enquiry into the sex abuse scandal, following several previous investigations.
Emily Maitlis, who describes the scandal as "horrendous", says the big question is why Musk is attempting to "direct" British politics in such a way.
"He is attacking, threatening, menacing, putting the dogs on a female minister who has spent her life working to combat domestic violence for women and girls," she says.
An independent review has already been held, and a report by Professor Alexis Jay submitted in 2022, under the previous Conservative government.
Jay has now called for the Labour government to implement the recommendations made three years ago, and the Home Office has said it is "working at pace" to do so.
But despite the review (and lack of subsequent action relating to Professor Jay's report during the Tories’ 14-years in power), its leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a new inquiry.
Former Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has blamed the Rotherham child sex scandal on "people from alien cultures".
Government data shows that most grooming gangs, some of which also include women, are mostly white, although some studies have shown an over-representation of Black and Asian men involved in such activities, when compared to national demographics.
What has Keir Starmer said?
On Monday, 6 January, Starmer addressed Musk's claims directly for the first time in a speech.
Defending his own record, he stated he tackled child exploitation "head on", reopened cases that had been previously closed and brought the first major prosecution of an Asian grooming gang in the UK.
When Starmer stepped down from the role as director of public prosecutions, the UK had the highest number of child sex abuse prosecutions on record.
He criticised the Tories for not acting either on the Jay report, or his own, decade-old, calls for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.
Addressing criticism of Jess Phillips, he said those attacking her online were interested only in "spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible."
"They’re not interested in victims. They’re interested in themselves," he said.
The PM also said people "cheerleading" Yaxley-Lennon were not interested in justice, merely the "street violence" he promotes.
Starmer added that political discourse must be based on "facts and truth", and accused those involved in new attacks as being "so desperate for attention that they are prepared to debase themselves and their country."
"What I won’t tolerate is this discussion and debate based on lies without calling it out," Starmer continued.
"What I won’t tolerate is politicians jumping on the bandwagon simply to get attention, when those politicians sat in government for fourteen 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."
Emily describes his comments as "skilfully done" – mentioning neither Musk or Badenoch by name.
She says Starmer's speech painted Musk as "a bloke who simply picked up his phone 20 years after the scandal erupted, who knows nothing about the UK or the grooming scandal, who probably doesn't give a damn about the victims of grooming".
What’s The News Agents’ take?
Emily says it's clear Musk has been watching Yaxley-Lennon's ("quote / unquote") documentaries, in which he presents himself as the man responsible for exposing Black and Asian grooming gangs in the UK.
The problem is, that isn't the case.
"It was the mainstream media who exposed it," she says.
"Andrew Norfolk was one of the first journalists, over a decade ago, to start saying, we have to call this out for what it is – and it looked as if it was particular Muslim Asian gangs raping vulnerable young women."
Earlier inquiries into grooming gangs had previously revealed that there were some "cultural concerns and sensitivities" around the reporting which "shouldn't have been there".
Lewis Goodall says these key facts are "completely absent" from Elon Musk's perspective on the situation, adding he believes that Starmer's response to the billionaire was his best moment since becoming Prime Minister.
Lewis accuses top UK journalists, broadcasters and opposition MPs of "dancing" to Musk's tune, and praises Starmer for putting Badenoch in his crosshairs with his comments on politicians amplifying the far right.
"Musk has been radicalised, and he is flooding our political ecosystem with misinformation, lies and conspiracy," he adds.
"His radicalisation is radicalising a good proportion of British politics, including quite a bit of the mainstream right in this country.
"That is what is dangerous here."
He criticises key members of the Tories and Reform UK for refusing to denounce Musk's language towards Jess Phillips, saying he believes even Rishi Sunak would have denounced the language Musk has used against her.
The defence, at every turn, is always that Musk (and his devotees) are simply exercising their right to free speech.
"This isn't about speech. It's about what is correct and what is incorrect, what is right, what is wrong," Lewis says.
Emily says what is currently happening on social media isn't an example of free speech, it's just good old fashioned libel.
Sometimes you have to call these things what they actually are. It's a complete misunderstanding and perversion of free speech, a kind of free speech ideology which is leading them down bizarre paths."
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