Tesla CEO Elon Musk, co-chairman of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arrives on Capitol Hill on December 5, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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Elon Musk has questioned whether the United States should “liberate the British people from their tyrannical government” after lashing out at top UK MPs.
In recent days, the tech billionaire and key adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump took to social media to air his grievances with the British government, resulting in a war of words between the Tesla boss and British government officials.
In a series of posts on social media platform X — which Musk owns — the tech tycoon lashed out at the UK Labor government, criticizing its handling of historic child abuse scandals.
On Friday, Musk accused British Defense Secretary Jess Phillips of being a “rape genocide apologist” before posting a series of posts inviting for Prime Minister Keir Starmer who will face jail time over the way child grooming gangs and other criminals who targeted children have been prosecuted.
Musk’s comments came after Phillips rejected calls for the government’s investigation into the sexual exploitation of children in the town of Oldham. Before embarking on a political career, Starmer was the UK’s Director of Public Prosecutions, leading the Crown Prosecution Service during the country’s child-rape gang scandal.
Spokespeople for Starmer and Phillips were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. British Health Secretary Wes Streeting slammed Musk’s attack on Phillips as a “disgraceful smear” over the weekend.
“Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips, who have both come under completely unjustified criticism, have done more in their professional lives than most people will ever do to lock up pedophiles, rapists, wife-beaters and all the other scum in our society,” he said in an interview for the television companies the BBC.
Musk’s criticism of the British government over the weekend culminated in a poll in which he pitched the concept of “liberating the people of Britain” to platform users.
This story is being updated.
