LONDON – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday slammed “lies and misinformation” that he says are undermining UK democracy, responding to a series of attacks on his government from Elon Musk.
Read more: Keir Starmer On His Vision To Fix Britain
The billionaire CEO of Tesla has taken a keen and misguided interest in British politics since the election of the centre-left Labor Party in July. Musk has used social media, X, to call for new elections and demand that Starmer be arrested. On Monday he posted an online poll of his 210 million followers with this proposal: “America should free the British people from their tyrannical government.”
Asked about Musk’s comments, Starmer criticized “those who spread lies and misinformation as far as possible,” particularly opposition politicians in Britain who oppose Musk’s allegations.
Musk frequently posts on X about the UK, echoing Starmer’s criticism and the hashtag TwoTierKeir – shorthand for the unproven claim that Britain has “two tiers of police” and far-right protesters treated more harshly than pro-Palestinian or Black Lives Matter protesters .
Recently, Musk focused on the sexual abuse of children, especially a series of cases that shook cities in the north of England where groups of men, mainly from Pakistani backgrounds, were tried on charges of fixing and abusing a number of girls. These cases have been used by far-right activists to link the abuse of children to immigration, and to attack politicians for allegedly hiding “gangs” because they are afraid of being seen as racist.
Musk sent a request for a public inquiry into the charges. The inquiry was carried out under the previous Conservative government, although many of the recommendations it made in 2022 are yet to be implemented.
Musk also accused Starmer of failing to bring criminals to justice when he was England’s director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013.
Answering questions after a speech near London, Starmer defended his record as chief prosecutor, saying he had reopened closed cases and “changed the whole way we prosecuted” child sexual abuse.
He also criticized the language used by Musk about Jess Phillips, who is the government minister responsible for combating violence against women and girls. Musk called Phillips a “genocide apologist” and said he deserved to be jailed.
“When the venom of the right leads to serious threats against Jess Phillips and others, then in my book, the line is crossed,” Starmer said. “I enjoy cutting and focusing on politics, the strong debate we should have, but that should be based on facts and truth, not lies.”
Starmer largely avoided mentioning Musk by name in his responses, perhaps afraid of giving him a prominent position. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, another target of the X owner’s ire, took a similar approach. Scholz said he is “cool” when he disagrees with Musk’s critical comments, but it is troubling to find out that the American billionaire is making an effort to get involved in the national election by supporting the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Starmer said the biggest problem wasn’t Musk’s post on X, but “what are the politicians here doing to represent our democracy?”
He said he was worried about Conservative politicians in Britain “wanting attention and amplifying the claims of the right.”
“Once we lose that important anchor of truth … then we’re on a very slippery slope,” he said.
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