When Elon Musk asked X’s 211 million followers to vote on whether America should free the British people from tyranny, the post seemed like a joke.
But he attacked Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer after a barrage of harsh posts about the UK by Mr Musk. Demanding the release of imprisoned far-right agitators. And his break with far-right leader Nigel Farage looked less like a joke and more like a humiliation by a powerful man who revels in his ability to disrupt the politics of other countries.
Musk’s posts appeared on X throughout the holidays like uninvited guests at a Christmas party, completely hijacking British political discourse in early 2025.
Mr Starmer on Monday used a press conference on rebuilding Britain’s National Health Service to criticize his failure to take action against gangs who sexually abused girls when he was Britain’s chief prosecutor more than a decade ago. Musk denied that claim.
Meanwhile, Mr Farage faces questions about his future as leader of the right-wing anti-immigration party Reform UK after Mr Musk said on Sunday’s X show that ‘Mr Farage doesn’t have what it takes’. I am doing it. The next day, Mr Farage posted a call for a national investigation into child sexual abuse cases, citing one of Mr Musk’s favorite causes.
Robert Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said: “Musk has a very distorted understanding of British politics, but he still holds the megaphone.” “For him to say something like this at 3am on a Sunday night is going to disrupt Labour’s entire NHS press conference on Monday.”
Professor Ford said it was difficult to predict the long-term effects of Mr Musk’s erratic campaign, but some of his moves could backfire. For example, a rift with Mr Farage could benefit Mr Farage.
A possible reason for the split was Mr Farage’s failure to support Mr Musk’s call for the release of far-right provocateur Tommy Robinson. Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is currently serving a prison sentence for repeatedly defaming young Syrian refugees and defying court orders. He has multiple convictions and a record of racist and Islamophobic comments.
In the UK, Professor Ford said: “Tommy Robinson is political kryptonite. There’s a reason Farage doesn’t want anything to do with him and never wants to have anything to do with him.”
He said that by defying Mr Musk and rejecting Mr Robinson, Mr Farage could become more palatable to right-wing mainstream voters disillusioned with the Conservative Party. Musk also notes that there is no clear leadership candidate to replace Farage, the architect of Brexit and a decades-old figure in British right-wing politics who galvanized Reform Britain during last year’s election campaign. He added that it would be.
Musk’s intervention is the latest setback for Starmer, who has just returned from a rare holiday that had to be postponed due to the death of his brother, after a troubled nascent government. Mr Starmer had hoped to roll out plans to cut waiting times for patients on the NHS in early 2025 as his personal ratings plummeted in opinion polls.
Instead, reporters asked about Mr Musk, who falsely claimed Mr Starmer covered up the abuse and exploitation of young girls by gang members, many of whom were of British Pakistani descent, in the 2000s and 2010s. “Starmer in jail,” Musk wrote in a post Monday morning.
“He was probably frustrated beyond words to have to deal with something like this,” said Stephen Fielding, emeritus professor of political history at the University of Nottingham. He said the prime minister was trying to avoid a “street war” with Musk and focus on governing.
Mr Starmer was director of the Crown Prosecution Service from 2008 to 2013 when the office brought the first of several cases against grooming gangs and drafted guidelines on mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse. He pointed out that. He said he tackled the scandal “head on.”
The Prime Minister defended Jess Phillips, the minister responsible for the protection of women and girls and violence, from Mr Musk’s accusation that she was a “rape genocide apologist” after rejecting calls for a national inquiry into child sexuality. , visibly furious. Exploitation in Oldham, a town near Manchester.
Ms Phillips instead called for Oldham City Council, rather than central government, to carry out the investigation. Mr Starmer said she had gone “a thousand times more than they could have dreamed of in terms of protecting victims of sexual abuse”.
Elizabeth Pearson, author of a book about Britain’s far-right Extreme Britain, said Robinson, who was convicted of assault and fraud, “was able to attract the attention of one of the most powerful men in the West”. I was lucky.” ”
She and other analysts are more perplexed about what Mr. Musk stands to gain by supporting a reprehensible figure who has been a sometimes violent part of British politics. Daily users of X in the UK have declined since Musk took over the platform formerly known as Twitter. Experts say championing Mr. Robinson’s cause is unlikely to reverse the trend.
“This is foreign interference in our system,” said Dr Pearson, a senior lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London. “At this point, we feel that Mr. Musk is becoming a bad guy who is trying to destabilize our system.”
Professor Fielding said Mr Musk was probably responding to an American audience. The risk, he said, is that “anybody who’s serious about the U.S. government would think this guy is starting an absolutely unnecessary fire.”
Mr. Musk’s activities have caused alarm in other European countries, including Germany, where he has supported far-right parties with neo-Nazi ties. On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron told a diplomatic audience: “Who would have imagined 10 years ago that the owner of one of the world’s largest social networks would support a new international reactionary movement?” . He did not mention Musk by name.
Similarly, Mr. Starmer has been unwilling to name Mr. Musk, a close ally of President-elect Donald J. Trump, and Mr. Starmer and his aides have been working to build a relationship with Mr. Musk. “This is not about America or masks,” he told reporters on Monday. “I’m talking about our politics.”
