Musk vs. Starmer: Grooming Gangs Scandal

In recent weeks, Musk has used the platform to amplify controversy surrounding UK grooming gangs, drawing attention to allegations that police, politicians, and prosecutors had failed to protect children from endemic abuse. Reports say that these gangs, made up mostly of Pakistani men, have raped and molested tens of thousands of underage girls in northern England over the past two decades. The victims were mostly white British girls.

Media reports, notably one by The Times in 2011 and inquiries that followed, received criticism for successive governments' failure to act on the issue, with some police departments accused of suppressing evidence about the gangs. "What happened to thousands of innocent young girls in Britain is just unbelievable," Musk posted in another thread on Wednesday. He also brought up the example of Rotherham, where, according to him, the authorities arrested the fathers who went to rescue their daughters from the gangsters.

During his tenure as chief of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from 2008 to 2013, Starmer faced scrutiny for the CPS's refusal to prosecute a grooming gang in Rochdale. In 2015, Rotherham police testified to an inquiry that the CPS, under his watch, seemed not to want to charge alleged offenders.

Addressing the controversy for the first time on Monday, Starmer accused Musk of spreading misinformation about his role in the scandal. He defended his record, saying he had reformed the CPS's approach to child sexual abuse cases, leading to a record number of prosecutions. However, a BBC investigation revealed that the figures Starmer used represented overall child sexual abuse cases and did not differentiate between gang and individual offenses. Furthermore, though prosecutions under Starmer peaked at 4,794 between 2010 and 2011, they actually rose to 7,200 annually by 2016-2017, long after Starmer had left the CPS.

Musk's onslaughts seem to have taken an even heavier toll on Starmer's popularity. In a YouGov poll published on Monday, 63% of voters said they disapproved of Starmer's government, while just 16% approved, down two points from December.

At a parliamentary session on Wednesday, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called for a national inquiry into the grooming gangs to be added to a forthcoming child protection bill. Starmer resisted the proposal, citing concerns that it could hold up the bill. The amendment is all but certain to fail, with Labour holding a 163-seat majority.

Musk responded on X, questioning Starmer's motives. "Why would Keir Starmer block such an inquiry?" Musk wrote. "Because he is concealing something terrible. That’s the reason."