Elon Musk has ramped up attacks on Sir Keir Starmer‘s Labour government as pressure continues to build around calls for an inquiry into the Prime Minister’s handling of grooming gang cases during his time serving as the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The series of social media posts by the X owner lambasting the PM came as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch demanded a public inquiry into Britain’s ‘rape gangs scandal’ after Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips was accused of blocking a probe.
Ms Badenoch said an inquiry into organised grooming gangs was ‘long overdue’.
Musk, owner of X, formerly Twitter, had singled out Ms Phillips over the issue – and shared more anti-Labour government posts on Thursday night, including describing as ‘good’ the resignation from the party of 20 Labour councillors in Hertfordshire.
Musk hit out at the minister’s refusal of Oldham Council’s request to launch a Home Office-led public inquiry into child sex exploitation there – launched a tirade of tweets, including sharing mocking memes of the PM and saying: ‘Britain needs Reform now’.
It came hours after he shared his backing for far-right agitator Tommy Robinson who is currently locked up, sentenced to 18 months in prison in October after admitting 10 beaches of a High Court injunction barring him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee.
Musk wrote that Ms Phillips ‘deserves to be in prison’, after she denied requests from Oldham Council to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the town.
The Minister said it was for the council to hold an inquiry, rather than for government to intervene. Telford and Rotherham councils commissioned and funded their own inquiries into grooming gangs in their areas.
The X owner used the platform to allege that the Prime Minister allowed rape gangs to ‘exploit young girls without facing justice’ when he was England and Wales’ top prosecutor.
He also alleged that Ms Phillips was refusing to investigate the gangs because it would lead back to the PM’s time as director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013.
Kemi Badenoch and the billionaire Trump advisor jumped on a decision by Labour not to back a new probe into allegations of abuse in Oldham.
The X owner used the platform to allege that the Prime Minister allowed rape gangs to ‘ exploit young girls without facing justice’ when he was England and Wales’ top prosecutor
It followed Elon Musk’s online attack on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s record of targeting the gangs when he was Director of Public Prosecutions. Starmer is pictured in 2009 when he was DPP
Musk wrote 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.’
He has faced criticism from many X users for allegedly ‘interfering’ in British politic s and justice but last night posted the words ‘The perfect question’ while sharing someone else’s message asking: ‘Why are some people more outraged by @elonmusk commenting on the state of the UK than they are by the mass rape of a quarter of a million British children?’
Mrs Badenoch had earlier tweeted: ‘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 the victims start to get justice.’
The scandal was one of several across the country in which dozens of girls were abused by British Pakistani gangs, and police forces and prosecutors often did not take action for fear of being called racist or Islamophobic.
This was a failing Sir Keir addressed in 2012 when he was running the CPS as the director of public prosecutions.
A former MP for Rochdale claimed that an ex-chairman of Labour’s parliamentary party warned him off drawing attention to the ethnicity of grooming gangs because it could harm the party’s electoral chances.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp also called for a national inquiry, saying: ‘We do need to make sure this is fully looked at and anyone responsible for not following it up is held to account.’
He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: ‘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.’
Shadow Safeguarding Minister Alicia Kearns also urged Ms Phillips to release ‘ethnicity data’ the Tories began collecting about those arrested for and charged over grooming.
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.’
Musk hit out after Minister Ms Phillips refused Oldham Council’s request to launch a Home Office-led public inquiry into child sex exploitation there
Sir Keir was director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013
Ms Badenoch joined Musk and Reform UK figures including Nigel Farage by leaned into the row on social media, tweeting: ‘The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal
However, Mr Farage, whose party has been linked to a $100million donated from Musk, replied: ‘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’
He also alleged that Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips was refusing to investigate the gangs because it would lead back to the PM’s time as director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013
A Labour spokeswoman said the Home Office ‘supports’ police investigations and independent inquiries ‘to get truth and justice for victims’.
She added: ‘We have supported both the national overarching inquiry into child abuse which reported in 2022, and local independent inquiries and reviews including in Telford, Rotherham and Greater Manchester. This Government is working urgently to strengthen the law so that these crimes are properly reported and investigated.
‘In Oldham the crimes committed by grooming gangs were horrific. Young girls were abused in the most cruel and sadistic way.
‘Victims and the community need to know that all steps are taken to deliver justice and protect children properly in the future.
‘We will welcome and support an independent investigation commissioned by Oldham Council which puts victims’ voices at its heart, following the examples of Telford and Rotherham. We also continue to support wider work commissioned by Mayor Andy Burnham into child protection issues across Greater Manchester, following the review into historic safeguarding issues in Oldham which was published in 2022.
‘Labour in opposition called for and supported the national inquiry into child sexual abuse under Professor Alexis Jay which concluded in 2022. The Labour Government is now working at pace to implement the recommendations, including introducing the duty to report.’
Last January a report found young girls were ‘left at the mercy’ of paedophile grooming gangs for years in Rochdale because of failings by senior police and council bosses.
The damning 173-page review covers 2004 to 2013 and sets out multiple failed investigations by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and apparent local authority indifference to the plight of hundreds of youngsters, mainly white girls from poor backgrounds, all identified as potential victims of abuse in Rochdale by Asian men.
Successive police operations were launched, but these were insufficiently resourced to match the scale of the widespread organised exploitation within the area.
The report follows reports by the same authors on grooming in Manchester and Oldham, which found authorities had again failed children, leaving them in the clutches of paedophiles.
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.
In a letter to the council, Ms Phillips said she believes it is ‘for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene’.
Robinson was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October after admitting 10 beaches of a High Court injunction barring him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee
Musk’s attack came as he lined up to support Robinson, the diminutive far-right agitator whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
The English Defence league co-founder was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October after admitting 10 beaches of a High Court injunction barring him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee.
During the unrest over the summer, billionaire Musk engaged with posts by Robinson, suggesting that civil war in the UK was ‘inevitable’.
He also retweeted a fake Daily Telegraph headline suggesting rioters would be sent to detention camps in the Falkland Islands.
Writing on X last night 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.’
He added: ‘Who is the boss of Jess Phillips right now? Keir Stamer (sic). The real reason she’s refusing to investigate the rape gangs is that it would obviously lead to the blaming of Keir Stamer (sic) (head of the CPS at the time).’
However, Sir Keir started the original investigation into gangs in Rochdale in 2012, the year before he left office as DPP.
He also tweeted ‘free Tommy Robinson’ and retweeted a follower who claimed Robinson was a ‘political prisoner’, a viewpoint held by many of the incarcerated Englishman’s supporters.
His support for Robinson could cause some unhappiness in the Reform Party.
Reports have suggested that he is preparing to hand it a war chest of up to $100million (£79million).
But party leader Nigel Farage has previously distanced himself from Mr Robinson, who was once a political adviser to Gerard Batten, Mr Farage’s successor as leader of Ukip.
It comes weeks after Musk, a close advisor to incoming US president Donald Trump, voiced his support for the German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
A Home Office study published in 2020 that found child sexual abuse gangs are most commonly made up of white men.
Musk has spent considerable time attacking Sir Keir since Labour came to power.
Last week he attacked the party over its economic plans for the UK.
Responding to a story about Scottish politicians urging him to invest in a Tesla gigafactory, the billionaire posted on X: ‘Very few companies will be willing to invest in the UK with the current administration.’
Musk has also recently been amplifying calls for a new general election in the UK, with his global presence helping see a petition in favour of a 2025 election surpass 3 million signatures online.
Keir Starmer took up his post as head of CPS and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in November 2008
Downing Street insisted Sir Keir was running an ‘unashamedly’ pro-growth government, but refused to criticise Musk directly.
Asked about Musk’s view about the government being anti-business, the PM’s spokesman said: ‘We look forward to working with President-elect Trump and indeed his team to progress the UK-US special relationship, and particularly the UK-US trade and investment relationship, which supports hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs both sides of the Atlantic, and tens of billion pounds of investment and trade.’
He added: ‘I’m not going to kind of get into commentary on individual comments, but if you look at what’s happened since the election, you’ve seen the £63 billion of additional investment from the Investment Summit.
‘You’ve seen the Government respond to some of the businesses’ key concerns in the UK, which is lack of stability, and the Government’s brought back that stability, both politically and economically.’