Musk is 'misjudged and certainly misinformed' over U.K. grooming attacks, says senior minister

A senior British politician pushed back Friday on Elon Musk's criticism of the government's handling of a historic child grooming scandal.

A senior British politician pushed back Friday on Elon Musk's criticism of the government's handling of a historic child grooming scandal.

In recent days, Musk has shared and reacted to posts on his X platform that have been critical of the British government after it rejected a call for a public inquiry into the grooming scandal in the north of England town of Oldham.

Though Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Musk's views were was "misjudged and certainly misinformed,” he urged the world's richest man and close confidant of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump to work with the government on tackling the issue of child sexual exploitation.

The government has argued that Oldham must follow in the footsteps of other towns and commission its own inquiry into the historical abuse of mainly girls.

A 2022 report into safeguarding measures in Oldham between 2011 and 2014 found that children were failed by local agencies, but that there was no cover-up despite “legitimate concerns” that the far-right would capitalize on “the high-profile convictions of predominantly Pakistani offenders across the country."

Musk has also targeted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who he claimed had failed to bring what many term “rape gangs” to justice when he was the director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013. The scandals, Musk said Friday, represent a “massive crime against humanity.”

Streeting told ITV News that the government took child sexual exploitation “incredibly seriously” and that it was supportive of an inquiry into the Oldham scandal, but that it should be led locally.