Billionaire Elon Musk’s posts accusing United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer of complicity in a decades-old scandal over child grooming gangs could damage the relationship between the United States and its closest ally, political watchers predicted Tuesday.
“There is absolute horror at the highest levels of government at the incendiary language we have seen from Elon Musk,” said Nicholas Watt, political editor at the BBC’s Newsnight.
The U.S.-based tech mogul and close adviser to President-elect Donald Trump made a series of posts on X that criticized Starmer’s handling of the grooming gangs during his time as director of public prosecutions. Musk also took aim at Jess Phillips, Britain’s safeguarding minister, calling her a “rape genocide apologist” and a “witch” who “deserves to be in prison.” Phillips called his claims “ridiculous.”
Musk also went so far as to ask if America should “liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.”
The comments stem from allegations that thousands of English girls were raped by men mostly from Pakistan for decades and that the heinous crimes were not investigated adequately and were covered up by the political establishment in an effort to ease racial tensions in the area. Investigations into the atrocities revealed that almost every level of government failed the young victims.
Musk, who will co-direct Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, began airing his disgust over the holidays to his 211 million followers on X, the social media platform he owns.
“There is going to be a hardheaded assessment: Is this just the view of Elon Musk, or is it the view of the wider administration and the incoming President Donald Trump? If it’s the latter, then there may be soon very, very serious questions about the nature of our ongoing security partnership with the United States,” Watt said.
He added that U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said the U.S.-U.K. relationship is the closest both countries have in the world.
“Can you have that level of sharing everything if this sort of stuff is endorsed by the next president of the United States,” Watt asked. “The answer to that question: Does Trump agree with this? Don’t know that one yet.”
Trump brushed aside concerns over Musk’s repeated attacks on Tuesday.
At a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said Musk was “doing a very good job” but claimed he wasn’t aware of his specific attacks on U.K. leaders.
Musk has repeatedly weighed in on British politics. He has used news articles to outline the failures of the government and to claim the ruling elite is trampling over the rights of everyday citizens.
On Monday, Starmer denied Musk’s allegations that he had not acted when he was Britain’s chief prosecutor.
“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 said.
Starmer served as director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013, making him the top prosecutor in the country when the child grooming scandals came to light.
Musk has been critical of Starmer’s center-left Labour government ever since right-wing rioters took to the streets last summer. Musk called Britain a “police state” after those who were involved in the riots were prosecuted. Musk has also pushed for the release of right-wing activist Tommy Robinson, who was a leader in shaping the violence. Robinson is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court. In an interview with Times Radio on Monday, Musk’s father, Errol Musk, compared Robinson to Nelson Mandela.
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Musk also suggested that Reform UK needs to replace Trump ally Nigel Farage with a new leader over Robinson’s incarceration.
Musk said Farage “does not have what it takes.”