Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Co-Chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arrives on Capitol Hill on December 05, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Elon Musk has questioned whether the United States should "liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government" after hitting out at top U.K. lawmakers.
In recent days, the tech billionaire and key advisor to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has taken to social media to air his grievances with the British government, resulting in a war of words between the Tesla boss and a U.K. government official.
In a series of posts on the X social media platform — which Musk owns — the tech tycoon hit out at the U.K.'s Labour government, criticizing its handling of historic child abuse scandals.
Musk accused the U.K. Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips of being a "rape genocide apologist" on Friday, before publishing a series of posts calling for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be ousted and face jail time over how child grooming gangs and other criminals who targeted children have been prosecuted.
His criticisms of the U.K. government over the weekend culminated in a poll, where he posed the concept of "liberating the people of Britain" to the platform's users.
Musk's comments came after Phillips rejected calls for a government-led inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the town of Oldham.
Before embarking on a political career, Starmer served as the U.K.'s director of public prosecutions, running the Crown Prosecution Service during the country's child rape gangs scandal. Phillips worked for Women's Aid, a charity that assists women who are victims of domestic violence, before taking on a role in politics.
A spokesperson for Phillips was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
CJBill on January 6th, 2025 at 11:35 UTC »
He's making increasingly shrill outbursts and trolls and Kier Starmer is just... ignoring him. Musk can't stand it, it's hilarious.
When Starmer was asked about it this morning he just said that he thinks most people are more interested in the NHS “than what’s happening on Twitter”. Didn't even name check Musk. Cue the next incoming meltdown in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
littlebiped on January 6th, 2025 at 10:43 UTC »
As a person in the UK this South African living in the US’s obsession with a country he has barely acknowledged up until a month ago is fucking tedious. Get a job. Or do the five you claim you have.
GodOfTheNihilism on January 6th, 2025 at 10:22 UTC »
So Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal, and now the U.K.? Do Trump and Putin have a deal to partition Earth or something?