Elon Musk calls on King Charles to order a brand new basic election – as stress mounts on Keir Starmer over grooming gangs inquiry

Elon Musk opened a new front in his war with Labour overnight as he backed a madcap call for King Charles to dissolve Parliament and order a new general election.

The billionaire X owner and Donald Trump adviser shared a post demanding the monarch step in, as he clashed with the government over grooming gangs. 

He has jumped in on a row over the government’s refusal to back a probe into gangs of British Asian men targeting teenage girls in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

Mr Musk, who last week praised the far right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party in Germany, is lining up alongside senior Reform UK and Conservative politicians demanding a fresh inquiry. 

In his latest attacks on Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Musk shared a post asking whether Charles ‘should dissolve parliament and order a General Election… for the sake and security’ of Britain.

Mr Musk retweeted the X thread with a one-word comment: ‘Yes.’

But his continued interest in UK politics was criticised by a Labour minister this morning.

Asked about the Tesla owner’s criticisms, Health Minister Andrew Gwynne told LBC: ‘Elon Musk is an American citizen and perhaps ought to focus on issues on the other side of the Atlantic. 

He added: ‘But look, the grooming issue is a very serious issue. We’ve already had inquiries into Telford, into Rotherham, we’ve had a local inquiry commissioned by Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, into the situation here in Greater Manchester which includes Oldham.

‘We’ve had the national child sexual exploitation inquiry in 2022 which the Government is seriously considering, there is a long list of recommendations that was made.

‘There comes a point where we don’t need more inquiries, and had Elon Musk really paid attention to what’s been going on in this country, he might have recognised that there have already been inquiries.

‘What we need is justice for the victims, and we need to make sure that the criminal justice system follows up and make sure that these atrocious things are never able to happen again.’

The King undemocratically dissolving Parliament of his own volition six months after voters went to the polls would trigger an immediate constitutional crisis in the UK.

In his Christmas address to the nation, the monarch praised ‘diversity of culture, ethnicity and faith’ for providing ‘strength, not weakness’.

Mr Musk continued to wade into the gangs debate overnight, hours after he posted that safeguarding minister Jess Phillips ‘deserves to be in prison’ after she denied requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham on Thursday.

He also suggested the Prime Minister had failed to bring ‘rape gangs’ to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.

Mr Musk reposted an article in The Daily Telegraph by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick in which he says the ‘grooming gangs’ should be renamed ‘torture rape gangs’.

He wrote that Mr Musk’s comments had shamed ‘the establishment by taking more interest in bringing these rape gangs to justice in one evening than most of the British establishment has for decades’.

Mr Musk continued his criticism in a post alongside footage of The Times’ chief investigative reporter Andrew Norfolk as he detailed the scope of the case and police mishandling, calling it ‘State-sponsored evil.’

Mr Norfolk exposed the Rotherham child sexual exploitation ring in the UK press in 2011.

In another comment on the same post, Mr Musk branded the scandal and the child rapists involved as ‘utterly shameful’.

The Tesla owner also called a post asking why people were angrier at his comments than they were about ‘mass rape’ of children as the ‘perfect question’.

Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said a full national inquiry into organised grooming gangs is ‘long overdue’.

Ms Phillips said she recognised the ‘strength of feeling’ for a Home Office-led inquiry into Oldham, but she told the local council the Government will not ‘intervene’.

‘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.

In response, Mr Musk, a key member of US President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle, said: ‘She deserves to be in prison.’

He also appeared to place blame at the Prime Minister’s door.

Mr Musk said: ‘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.’

In a series of posts on his social media site, Mr Musk described the Prime Minister as ‘two-tier Keir’, claiming there was ‘no justice for severe, violent crimes but prison for social media posts’.

Mr Musk also expressed his support for activist Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – who was jailed for 18 months for contempt of court in October.

Senior Tories also sought to put pressure on the Government over grooming gangs.

Mrs Badenoch said: ‘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.’

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp and shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns pressed for a statutory inquiry in Oldham.

They said 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’.

In 2022, the then-Conservative government also refused a request for a public inquiry into events in Oldham.

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.’

Mr Musk, who is rumoured to be considering a major donation to Mr Farage’s party, responded: ‘Exactly. Time for Reform.’

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.