A government minister has said Elon Musk is “wrong” about Keir Starmer’s record tackling grooming gangs.
Karin Smyth, a minister at the Department of Health and Social Care, argued the prime minister “led the attack” on rape gangs as the director of public prosecutions and head of the crown prosecution service from 2008 to 2013.
Speaking to Times Radio, Smyth appeared to confirm Starmer “will respond” to Musk’s social media onslaught later on Monday as the prime minister prepares to deliver a speech on the NHS.
Asked about Musk’s comments, Smyth said: “I think Keir will respond to that later. He is someone who has led the attack on the evil perpetrators of these crimes and supported victims.”
When it was put to Smyth that Musk — a key member of US president-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle — would push back against that argument, Smyth continued: “Well, he’s wrong about that, isn’t he?
“I think most people in this country know that, and even under the previous government, previous committees of the House of Commons applauded Keir Starmer for his work as the director of public prosecutions and leading the way on tackling these evil perpetrators and supporting victims, and I think most of the country do know that.”
She added: “It would be more helpful if Musk wanted to use his platform to support victims.
“It is a shocking crime. We know that there are millions of people living with the consequences of decades of abuse in this country, and those are the people we should be thinking about supporting.”
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Asked how the tech billionaire could use his platform to support victims, Smyth said: “We know it goes on. We know that, although young men are abused, it’s primarily a misogynist attack on women. He could use his platform to educate his audience about misogyny, about the evils of the crime.
“It’s clearly a longstanding problem and using [X] to expose the evilness of that would be a more helpful thing.”
The government has insisted it is working “at pace” to implement the recommendations of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.
“No child should ever suffer sexual abuse or exploitation and it is paramount we do more to protect vulnerable children – which is why we are working at pace across government to drive forward real action to implement the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse”, a government spokesperson said.
The comments come as the prime minister is expected to face questions about Musk’s attacks on Labour over past grooming gang cases.
In recent days, Musk has said on X, the social media platform he owns, that safeguarding minister Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison” for denying requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into historic child sexual exploitation in Oldham and called her a “rape genocide apologist”.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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