The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, can’t seem to stop posting on social media about the UK – now he wants monarch King Charles III to ‘step in’ and call another general election
Billionaire, tech mogul, commentator on British politics? Sir Keir Starmer critic Elon Musk is at it again.
Musk has fired off plenty of online vitriol towards the PM since the latter took office last year. Now Musk thinks the King should dissolve parliament and call a general election.
The world’s richest man retweeted an account that called for the King to “step in”. The post read: “We can’t have Keir heading the country, while he was the one heading the Crown Prosecution Service ( CPS) while all this was happening.”
The post was likely referring to grooming scandals in Northern England that began to be uncovered in 2013. Musk later quote-tweeted the post with the caption “Yes”.
He did the same, the MailOnline reported, for a post from another account which asked if the King “should dissolve parliament and order a General Election”.
It is unlikely the King will march in an attempt to dissolve parliament to call a general election. Technically, he does have the power to do this, but convention means it is far-fetched and it would undoubtedly cause a constitutional crisis.
The monarch’s royal namesake, King Charles I, once swept into parliament with his armed guards, but ended up with his head chopped off a few years later. This may suggest that such an action is ill-advised at best.
Billionaire Musk, meanwhile, has repeatedly tweeted about Starmer and has taken a number of swipes at his Government this week, following the decision by Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips not to have an inquiry led by the Home Office into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.
Ms Phillips, who was also the target of Musk’s X rant in which he said she “deserves to be in prison”, said in a letter to the council that it was for a local authority to “commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally”.
This is what happened with similar scandals in Rotherham and Telford.
Ms Phillips said she recognised the “strength of feeling” for a Home Office-led inquiry, but the Government will not “intervene”. This was criticised by some Tories, but the Conservative government turned down a similar request two years ago.
Musk has continued to weigh in on UK issues, despite being a US citizen who has little to do with Old Blighty. Today, Musk retweeted a picture of Starmer branded with the words “I facilitate child rape”.
Yesterday, referring again to the grooming scandals, Musk asked: “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.”
Starmer was the CPS chief from 2008 to 2013. He appointed Nafir Afzal to begin prosecutions against a grooming gang in Rochdale in 2013 and brought in reforms to the way the CPS investigates sexual abuse following the Jimmy Savile scandal.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said “this government takes the issue of child sexual exploitation incredibly seriously” and that Musk’s attacks were “misjudged and certainly misinformed”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called for a full national inquiry into what she called the “rape gangs scandal”. Her party has also said Musk had shared “things that are factually inaccurate”.
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