Keir Starmer slams 'desperate' Elon Musk for spreading 'lies' and 'whipping up intimidation'
6 January 2025, 10:58 | Updated: 6 January 2025, 13:37
Sir Keir Starmer has said Elon Musk is "desperate for attention" and urged him to stop spreading “lies” as he leapt to the defence of Jess Phillips following the X CEO's attack on the Labour MP.
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The Prime Minister defended Phillips on Monday morning after the billionaire X owner attacked her for not launching a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.
He said: "Those attacking Jess Phillips, who I am proud to call a colleague and friend, are not protecting victims.
"Jess Phillips has done a thousand times more than they've ever dreamed about when it comes to protecting victims of sexual abuse.
"I'm prepared to call this out for what it is... the whipping up of intimidation and threats of violence, hoping that the media will amplify it."
Musk had argued that "rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice", in just one of a string of posts on X.
But Starmer has argued that "more people are interested in the NHS than what happens on Twitter."
He added: "I enjoy the cut and trust of politics, the robust debate that we must have but that has got to be based on facts and truth, not on lies, not on those who are so desperate for attention that they are prepared to debase themselves and their country."
Phillips said she recognised the "strength of feeling" for a Home Office-led inquiry into grooming gangs but the Government will not "intervene", in a letter to Oldham Council.
Speaking out on the matter, Jess Phillips, the government's Safeguarding minister, said: "I believe it is for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene," she said.
Leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, appeared to back Musk by calling for a national inquiry into the UK's "rape gangs scandal".
Badenoch, writing on X, argued that a public inquiry into organised grooming gangs is "long overdue".
In her post, Mrs Badenoch wrote: "The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal.
"Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice."
Meanwhile, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has hit out at Elon Musk's messages calling for the US Ambassador to be summoned to explain the tweets.
Responding to Elon Musk’s latest post on X in which he suggested that America should “liberate the people of Britain” and overthrow the government, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:
“People have had enough of Elon Musk interfering with our country’s democracy when he clearly knows nothing about Britain. It’s time to summon the US ambassador to ask why an incoming US official is suggesting the UK government should be overthrown.
“This dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric is further proof that the UK can’t rely on the Trump administration, and it’s in our national interest to rebuild trade and security ties with our allies in Europe.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp reiterated calls for a national inquiry, adding: "We do need to make sure this is fully looked at and anyone responsible for not following it up is held to account."
"The issues don't just apply in Oldham, they apply, I'm afraid, in many other towns and cities as well, and it's I think right, now, that we look at that.
"I'm very disappointed the Labour government have been so silent on this topic."
Mr Philp and shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns wrote to Ms Phillips and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to say that only a public inquiry "can adequately encompass the national nature of these crimes and issues" and consider whether reports were ignored by the police, CPS and local council "or even covered up".
An Oldham Council spokesman said: "Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation.
"Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge."
Responding to Mrs Badenoch's post, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "Talk is cheap. The Conservatives had 14 years in government to launch an inquiry.
"The establishment has failed the victims of grooming gangs on every level."
Prior to this, Mr Musk had written on X: "In the UK, serious crimes such as rape require the Crown Prosecution Service's approval for the police to charge suspects.
"Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013."
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022, described the sexual abuse of children as an "epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake".
Led by Professor Alexis Jay, the inquiry looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.
In November last year, Professor Jay said she felt "frustrated" that none of the probe's 20 recommendations had been implemented more than two years after its conclusion.
She said: "It's a difficult subject matter, but it is essential that there's some public understanding of it.
"But we can only do what we can to press the Government to look at the delivery of all of this.
"It doesn't need more consultation, it does not need more research or discussion, it just needs to be done." Reform UK MP for Great Yarmouth Rupert Lowe also called for an inquiry into the issue on Thursday, arguing it has been "disgracefully ignored and suppressed for too long".
Mr Lowe said the British people should be able to "see for themselves the extent of the horror" and that the Government should publish "all detail".
He added: "What is the Home Office currently doing in order to prevent ongoing grooming, rape, exploitation or abuse of young British girls? How many girls are estimated to still be involved with these gangs?
"Will they publish a full nationality breakdown of those convicted for such offences, along with the location of their crimes?"
