UK Prime Minister Starmer slams ‘lies’ after Musk tirade

Starmer defends grounds arsenic authoritative aft tech billionaire Musk attacks him and different Labour figures implicit handling of kid rape cases.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has defended his grounds and slammed those “spreading lies” pursuing days of hostile attacks from Elon Musk implicit humanities kid rape crimes successful bluish England.

“Those that are spreading lies and misinformation arsenic acold and arsenic wide arsenic imaginable are not funny successful victims, they are funny successful themselves,” Starmer said connected Monday, without mentioning US billionaire Musk by name.

He was speaking during a National Health Service-related lawsuit successful Surrey successful the United Kingdom, responding to a question astir Musk’s caller attacks connected his handling of kid rape cases.

Focusing connected humanities scandals involving paedophile grooming gangs that archetypal emerged during Starmer’s tenure arsenic manager of nationalist prosecutions, Musk has successful caller days assailed him and different Labour figures implicit the issue.

Musk’s tirade, which included demands for a caller nationalist enquiry into the scandal, has prompted immoderate UK absorption politicians to articulation successful the disapproval and calls for a caller nationalist probe.

“We’ve seen this playbook galore times, whipping up of intimidation and threats of violence, hoping that the media volition amplify it,” Starmer said.

The premier curate highlighted that his safeguarding curate Jess Phillips had received superior threats. Musk described her successful a station connected his societal media level X past week arsenic a “rape genocide apologist”.

Saying helium was making a much wide constituent alternatively than straight addressing Musk’s comments, Starmer said: “When the poison of the far-right leads to superior threats to Jess Phillips and others past successful my publication a enactment has been crossed.

“I bask the chopped and thrust of politics, the robust statement that we indispensable have, but that’s got to beryllium based connected facts and truth, not connected lies,” helium added.

The contented has agelong been seized upon by far-right figures, successful peculiar the imprisoned Tommy Robinson, 1 of the UK’s best-known far-right agitators, whom Musk has praised.

In 1 of his X posts connected Thursday, Musk claimed that Robinson was successful situation “for telling the truth” and that “he should beryllium freed.”

A 2014 enquiry recovered astatine slightest 1,400 children were subjected to intersexual exploitation successful Rotherham, bluish England, betwixt 1997 and 2013.

Musk appears to be taking a keen interest successful the British governmental country since the left-of-centre Labour Party won a landslide predetermination triumph successful July 2024, bringing an extremity to 14 years of Conservative rule.

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies