Keir Starmer hit back at Elon Musk today in the increasingly bitter spat over his record on grooming gang cases.
The PM mounted a robust defence as he took questions after laying out NHS waiting list plans this morning.
Sir Keir said ‘child sexual exploitation is utterly sickening’ and victims had been ‘let down’ – but he insisted he had tackled the issues ‘head on’ as director of public prosecutions.
The premier accused opposition politicians of ‘amplifying what the far-right is saying’ on child sexual abuse after falling to act ‘for 14 long years’.
He insisted he would fight the ‘poison of the far right’, arguing that those who are ‘spreading lies and misinformation.. are not interested in victims, they are interested in themselves’.
Sir Keir said he did not ‘really have any comment’ on Mr Musk asking followers on his X social media site whether the US should ‘liberate’ Britain.
‘I think most people are more interested about the NHS… rather than what’s happening on Twitter,’ he said.
The tech billionaire, a key ally of returning US President Donald Trump, has been launching a blizzard of attacks on Sir Keir over the festive period.
Mr Musk has claimed the premier was ‘complicit’ in allowing the gangs’ activities to continue unchecked.
This morning he posted on his X social media site that Sir Keir should be in ‘prison’ and asked followers whether America should ‘liberate’ Britain from its ‘tyrannical government’.
Keir Starmer is set to hit back at Elon Musk today in the increasingly bitter spat over his record on grooming gang cases
The tech billionaire, a key ally of returning US President Donald Trump, has been launching a blizzard of attacks on Sir Keir over the festive period
Mr Musk posted on his X social media site this morning that Sir Keir should be ‘in prison’ and asked followers whether America should ‘liberate’ Britain from its ‘tyrannical government’
Sir Keir has faced questions in recent days over a 2009 decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to drop a major case against an alleged grooming gang in Rochdale.
The chairwoman of a previous inquiry that uncovered wide-ranging failings in how institutions protected children has said she is not seeking a new probe – but urged ministers to implement recommendations from her final report more than two years ago.
‘Our mission is not to call for new inquiries but to advocate for the full implementation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse’s recommendations. A Child Protection Authority is critical to this process,’ said Professor Alexis Jay.
Writing in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday, Kemi Badenoch said an inquiry should ‘identify the bodies that failed as well as the individuals who facilitated or ignored these crimes so they can be removed from their roles’.
Nigel Farage also backed an inquiry – and said it was fair for Mr Musk to question what role, if any, Sir Keir had in decisions not to pursue serious allegations in Rochdale in 2009.
Supporters point out that as DPP Sir Keir brought in a national network of specialist prosecutors for child abuse and sexual exploitation to oversee convictions against grooming gangs and changed Crown Prosecution Service guidance to focus on the credibility of allegations rather than whether victims would make good witnesses
Mr Musk also posted on X, which he owns, suggesting that safeguarding minister Jess Phillips ‘deserves to be in prison’ for denying requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham and called her a ‘rape genocide apologist’.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting called Mr Musk’s attacks on Ms Phillips a ‘disgraceful smear’ yesterday.
She and the Prime Minister have an ‘actual record of banging up rapists, paedophiles and sex offenders, so they don’t need lectures from anyone else’, he said.
Social media platforms can help to clamp down on those grooming children online if Mr Musk wants to ‘roll his sleeves up and actually do something about tackling violence against women and girls’, he said.
Nigel Farage has also had a falling out with Mr Musk, after speculation about a huge donation to Reform UK
The Tesla and Space X boss took aim at Ms Phillips after she wrote to Oldham council saying it must follow other towns such as Rotherham and Telford and commission its own inquiry into historical abuse of children.
Labour is now facing calls for a new national inquiry from Reform UK and the Conservatives, the latter of which had refused a request for a public inquiry into events in Oldham while in government.
Sir Keir’s Government is against launching another nationwide probe and has said it is working to implement recommendations from Professor Jay’s inquiry, which concluded in 2022.
That 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.