Musk tried to ‘undermine’ general election and ‘depose’ Starmer, MPs told
13 January 2025, 17:44
Labour MP Johanna Baxter also accused Elon Musk of putting the safety of Home Office minister Jess Phillips ‘at risk’ through his platform X.
Billionaire Elon Musk has used social media to “undermine” the general election and tried to “depose” Sir Keir Starmer, MPs have heard.
Labour MP Johanna Baxter also accused the owner of X, formerly Twitter, of putting the safety of Home Office minister Jess Phillips “at risk” as she called on the Government to prevent “foreign interference” in British politics.
Mr Musk spent much of last week using X to attack the Prime Minister over his opposition to another national inquiry into grooming gangs.
He accused him of being “complicit in the rape of Britain” over his record as a former director of public prosecutions, and called Ms Phillips a “rape genocide apologist”.
The South African-born billionaire has also asked his 212 million followers whether America should “liberate” the UK from its “tyrannical government”.
Ms Baxter told MPs during Home Office questions: “Recently, the owner of social media site X has used his sizable platform to undermine the democratic result of last July’s general election, has stirred up hatred towards the member for Birmingham Yardley (Ms Phillips) putting her safety at risk, and has sought mechanisms to depose the Prime Minister.
“Can (Home Office minister Dan Jarvis) say what actions the defending democracy task force is taking to prevent that kind of foreign interference in British politics?”
Mr Jarvis replied: “The Government considers this work to be urgent, we have seen some utterly unacceptable activity, both during and beyond the general election.
“I hope that work to address this should be a shared endeavour right across the House, but the Government is working at pace to address it.”
A poll published on Saturday suggested widespread opposition to Mr Musk’s involvement in British politics, as some 53% of people told pollster Opinium they thought he was having a negative impact on British politics.
On his comments about grooming gangs specifically, 47% said they thought Mr Musk was being “unhelpful”, compared with 26% who thought the opposite.
Later in the session, Labour MP for Edinburgh North and Leith Tracy Gilbert thanked Ms Phillips and said she will “ensure this Government does more to tackle violence against women and girls than any other government”.
She continued: “In doing so, will the Government amend the strategy to consider prostitution and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation as violence against women and girls?”
Ms Phillips replied: “The violence against women and girls strategy that the Government will launch later this year will absolutely root adult sexual exploitation, which so often actually stems from childhood sexual exploitation, into the Government’s violence against women and girls strategy for the first time ever.”
As Ms Phillips came under fire from the billionaire X owner, she was defended by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who said the Home Office minister has put the experience of grooming and trafficking victims “at the heart” of the department’s work on modern slavery, launched a national scheme so police and staff work together to spot when hotels are used as a site of child sexual exploitation, and set up the first child sexual exploitation service in the Black Country.
