A scandal from more than a decade ago has returned to the front pages of the British media in recent days. The reason - Elon Musk. It is about a report that claims that criminal gangs, mainly composed of men of Pakistani origin, raped and kidnapped young white girls.
Musk accused the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and called on him to resign - because at the time when this scandal broke in the country, Starmer was the Attorney General. According to Musk, this means that he is "complicit in the rape of the United Kingdom".
What is Keir Starmer's role?
The British Prime Minister was indeed the country's Attorney General from 2008 to 2013. This Monday he defended his work then, writes "Reuters". Starmer said that he had launched the first major criminal prosecution against a criminal gang accused of rape and solicitation of prostitution. In addition, the British Prime Minister recalled that during his tenure as prosecutor, the most cases of sexual abuse of children were investigated.
Contrary to Musk's claims in X, Starmer, as Attorney General, played a key role in taking action against these crimes, writes ARD. For example, in 2013 he issued new guidelines on how prosecutors should work better with victims of these gangs in the future. Musk, however, is not particularly interested in these facts. Over the weekend, he declared the Labour Party MP Jess Phillips a "wicked witch". Because she correctly stated that there was no point in a new national commission of inquiry into old cases, as there had already been several, whose recommendations were currently being implemented. Since then, Phillips has even received death threats.
What exactly is the scandal in question?
A 2014 report estimated that over 1,400 girls were sexually exploited in the town of Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Many of them were already known to local authorities because they were in state care or were victims of neglect by their parents.
The report states that girls as young as 11 were raped by a large number of men. The report said local officials apparently believed the children had consensual sexual contact with them.
Most of the known perpetrators were of Pakistani origin, and in some cases local officials and other agencies were hesitant to identify their ethnicity for fear of upsetting the community or being accused of racism, the report said. As a result of a similar investigation in the city of Oldham, the police and local authorities were criticized, but no cover-up of crimes was found.
Why is Musk raising the topic now?
Now politicians from the opposition Conservative Party, including its leader Kemi Badenoch, as well as Nigel Farage - currently at the head of the right-wing party "Reform", are demanding a new national investigation into the cases, after information emerged that the government had ordered the authorities in Oldham to conduct their own investigation.
The United Kingdom has repeatedly conducted such investigations in various places in northern England, "Reuters" recalls. In 2022, a large-scale investigation into abuse against children was carried out, including in churches and schools. Recommendations were made then, but have not yet been implemented in practice. Starmer’s government, which was elected in July, has said it is working to implement the regulations.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has drawn attention to the issue and has also called for a new inquiry, as well as the resignation of Prime Minister Starmer. However, Professor Alexis Jay, who authored the original 2014 report, says there is no need for a new inquiry, but instead the recommendations in her report should simply be implemented.
How this affects British politics
Musk’s near-constant criticism of Starmer and the Labour government has certainly made things difficult in Westminster in the early days of the new year. As Starmer tried to set out plans to tackle the health crisis, he was bombarded with questions about Musk and his allegations.
Starmer is not the only British politician to be targeted by Musk. Last year, the billionaire appeared to be close to Nigel Farage, but now Musk has said he should resign from his party leadership and that he "doesn't have what it takes to govern the UK". The likely reason for Musk's u-turn is that Farage disagrees with the billionaire's support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who is currently serving a sentence for perjury.
Why is Musk raising the issue now?
Why is Musk telling this long-documented story and acting as if it all just happened? It is clear that, first of all, because he draws most of his knowledge about Britain from the so-called "Echo chambers" - online spaces on social networks, in which the algorithm floods each user with opinions that mainly correspond to his own.
The lies about Starmer's alleged past as a pedophile are part of a conspiracy theory that comes mainly from the circle of right-wing extremist Tommy Robinson. In the summer, Musk had reactivated his blocked account on X, after which Robinson largely called on his more than one million followers to join the riots in England after the murders of several children, which were allegedly religiously motivated. Here too, Musk's actions had direct consequences outside the world of social media, ARD recalls. And since everything was going so well for X, Musk then supported "Free Tommy Robinson!" - a campaign from the right-wing extremist environment that calls for the immediate release of the convicted criminal.
Musk's behavior has a very clear goal, writes Annette Dietert in ARD - to erase the political culture in a democracy, so that the difference between true and false is blurred. In such a situation, the right of the strong reigns, and control over financial and political power is not possible, the correspondent of the German media also commented.