SpaceX CEO vs. UK prime minister: Battle over child abuse, political leadership

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, sparked a political uproar in the United Kingdom with a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) aimed at Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips, and the Labour government. The billionaire entrepreneur accused them of mishandling the response to child grooming gang cases, fueling calls for a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation.

Musk escalated the controversy by posting a poll on X, the social media platform he owns, asking whether the United States should “liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government,” Caliber.Az reports citing foreign media.

On New Year’s Day, Musk used X to critique Starmer’s tenure as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from 2008 to 2013, accusing Starmer of failing to take decisive action against grooming gangs, thereby allowing the abuse of vulnerable girls to continue unchecked. Musk’s claims suggested that the institutional failures during Starmer’s time leading the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were directly tied to Starmer’s leadership.

Musk’s remarks intensified in recent days as he launched a series of attacks on the Labour government’s handling of child abuse cases. He labeled Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips a “rape genocide apologist,” and advocated for the ousting and imprisonment of Prime Minister Starmer over his role in the prosecution of child grooming gangs and other child exploitation cases.

Musk’s criticisms reached their peak with a poll, where he asked X users whether they believed the US should intervene and “liberate the people of Britain” from what he described as a “tyrannical government.” His statements followed Phillips' rejection of calls for a government-led inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.

In response, Starmer condemned Musk’s accusations, stressing the importance of addressing child sexual exploitation but criticizing Musk’s actions as spreading misinformation. “On the question of Elon Musk … it is a really important set of issues. Child sexual exploitation is utterly sickening,” Starmer said in response to a question during a news conference. ”[But] those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible — they’re not interested in victims, they’re interested in themselves.”

Starmer defended his record as DPP, asserting that under his leadership, the CPS achieved its highest ever number of prosecuted child sexual abuse cases. “Just as I took on the criminal justice system and the institutions when I was chief prosecutor, I’m prepared to call out this for what it is,” he told reporters.

“When the poison of the far right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others, in my book a line has been crossed. I enjoy the cut and thrust of politics, but that’s got to be based on facts … not on those who are so desperate for attention that they’re prepared to debase themselves and their country.”

By Vafa Guliyeva