Elon Musk hails 'integrity' of first Labour MP to break ranks with Keir Starmer over grooming gangs inquiry stance
12 January 2025, 13:30
US-based tech tycoon Elon Musk has heaped praise on the first Labour MP to break ranks with Sir Keir Starmer by calling for a national inquiry into Rotherham's child grooming gangs.
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Dan Carden, representing Liverpool Walton, became the first Labour MP to call for the national inquiry earlier this week.
He told The Liverpool Echo: “The public compassion for the victims, thousands of young British working-class girls and children is real. The public call for justice must be heeded.
“It is shocking that people in positions of power could have covered up and refused to act to avoid confronting racial or cultural issues or because victims were poor and working class.”
The MP later added that both Starmer and his safeguarding minister Jess Phillips have “strong records in this area” but added that the government “has failed to take the high ground.”
Read more: MPs vote down Conservatives' attempt to force new national grooming gangs inquiry
“'We must question and challenge the orthodoxy of progressive liberal multiculturalism that led to authorities failing to act,” he said.
Musk, the billionaire X CEO and Donald Trump ally who has repeatedly attacked Starmer and other Labour figures for refusing to launch an inquiry over the scandal, thanked Mr Carden for his remarks.
He wrote on X: “Thank you, @DanCardenMP! Integrity.”
Other Labour figures, including Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Labour peer Baroness Harriet Harman, have also backed calls for a new probe into grooming gangs.
Musk has previously argued that "rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice" during Sir Keir's tenure as director of public prosecutions.
Starmer has defended his record of prosecuting child grooming gangs and said those "spreading misinformation are not interested in the victims", amid his row with Musk.
He also said "a line has been crossed" by the businessman when he described Home Office minister Jess Phillips as a "rape genocide apologist".
Speaking with LBC last week, Public Health minister Andrew Gwynne told Matthew Wright that "Elon Musk, as a US citizen, perhaps ought to focus on issues on the other side of the Atlantic..."
Ms Phillips said she recognised the "strength of feeling" for a Home Office-led inquiry, but the Government will not "intervene", in a letter to Oldham Council.
"We've already had inquiries into Telford, into Rotherham... and the government is seriously considering the recommendations," Andrew Gwynne told LBC.
Labelling grooming gangs a "very serious issue", he suggested Musk ought to stay out of UK politics, adding: "There comes a point [where] we don’t need more inquiries."
"Had Elon Musk really paid attention to what’s been going on in this country, he might recognise that there have already been inquiries.
"What we need is justice for the victims. And we need to make sure the criminal justice system follows up and makes sure that these atrocious things are never able to happen again."
