Elon Musk has criticised the UK government’s handling of child grooming gangs in a series of messages on his social media site X.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to protect victims of child sexual abuse and warned it won’t tolerate discussions on the issue that are based on lies.
His remarks follow an ongoing exchange between UK politicians and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is set to act as an unelected adviser to the upcoming Trump presidency.
Musk has claimed that Starmer had failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions. He also suggested that safeguarding minister Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison” after she denied requests for a public inquiry in Oldham.
Starmer has defended his actions to tackle child sexual abuse by grooming gangs in the UK. Speaking to reporters on Monday, he said he had dealt with the problem “head-on” as director of public prosecutions.
“I reopened cases that had been closed and supposedly finished, I brought the first major prosecution of an Asian grooming gang—in that particular case it was in Rochdale, but it was the first of its kind, there were many that then followed that format.
“We changed, or I changed, the whole prosecution approach, because I wanted to challenge and did challenge the myths and stereotypes that were stopping those victims being heard. When I left office, we had the highest number of child sexual abuse cases being prosecuted on record.
“Now that record is not secret. As a public servant, it’s there for all of you, for everybody to see,” Starmer said.
When pressed on Musk’s comment regarding Phillips, Starmer said “a line has been crossed” and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to protecting victims, including of child sexual abuse.
“But what I won’t tolerate is this discussion and debate based on lies,” the prime minister added.
Inquiries Into Historic Abuse
Historic child sexual abuse cases in Rochdale, Rotherham, and other areas of the UK have been investigated by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, led by Alexis Jay.
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