Britain wants to get close to Trump. Will Elon Musk stand in the way?
CTV
It was not the start to 2025 that Keir Starmer wanted or expected: in the early hours of New Year’s Day, Elon Musk lobbed a series of angry posts and allegations towards the British prime minister, engulfing his government in a very public fight.
It was not the start to 2025 that Keir Starmer wanted or expected: in the early hours of New Year’s Day, Elon Musk lobbed a series of angry posts and allegations towards the British prime minister, engulfing his government in a very public fight.
In the days since, the world’s richest man has dredged up a painful, years-long scandal over grooming gangs and pushed for the release of Tommy Robinson, an imprisoned far-right agitator with a swelling social media following.
The tech billionaire, who played a prominent role in U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s election campaign, has posted or reposted on X about child sex abuse cases in the U.K. more than 50 times this week.
He has called for Starmer and his safeguarding minister to be removed from power, for new elections to take place, and even for King Charles III to unilaterally dissolve parliament – something which hasn’t happened for nearly two centuries and would cause a constitutional crisis.
The topics represent the latest fascination of Musk, but his vexation is not new – as Trump’s inauguration nears, the X owner has intervened with increasing ferocity in European politics and hailed far-right figures on the continent. He has repeatedly condemned the European Union’s institutions and policy decisions, and Italy’s president has warned him to stop meddling in the country’s affairs.
Musk now poses a delicate new challenge for Britain’s political leaders. Starmer is taking great pains to charm Trump, while also hoping to hold back at home the growing influence of Reform UK, a populist, anti-immigration party that Musk has endorsed.
And the row may already have burnt Nigel Farage, the Reform leader who had been openly working to secure Musk’s financial backing – but whom Musk turned against on Sunday, after Farage failed to endorse his stance on Robinson.
