Open Editor's Digest for free
Rula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has hit back at Elon Musk over his comments on the UK's handling of historical sexual assault cases.
The billionaire close to US President-elect Donald Trump has criticized Starmer and his government protection minister Jess Phillips in a series of posts on X in recent days, mainly to complain about the failure to hold perpetrators to account.
In a speech in Epsom on Monday, Starmer said that “a line has been crossed”, adding that “those who spread lies and misinformation as widely as possible are not concerned with the victims – they are concerned with themselves.” “.
We've seen this playbook many times – intimidation and threats of violence, in the hopes that the media will amplify them. . . “When the poison of the far right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others, a line has been crossed in my book,” Starmer said.
Musk, who has posted frequently about UK politics since Labor's election in July, recently described Phillips as a “rape genocide apologist” and an “evil witch.”
He has published dozens of times about a historic scandal involving sexual grooming gangs in northern England.
On Friday, Musk claimed Starmer was “complicit in the rape of Britain,” a reference to the prime minister’s previous role overseeing the U.K. prosecutors’ office when evidence of gangs emerged more than a decade ago.
Allegations that Starmer bears some responsibility for failures to bring grooming gangs to justice stem, in particular, from a case in 2009 when the decision was made not to prosecute alleged perpetrators in the town of Rochdale.
Lawyers at the time believed that the victim would not be reliable or credible.
Starmer had been DPP for nine months when the decision was made, but there is no evidence to suggest he was aware of the details of the case at the time.
Starmer said on Monday that as prosecutor for five years, he had dealt with gangs directly and reopened various cases.
He also criticized those – including Musk – who supported far-right instigator Tommy Robinson, saying he was a man who went to prison for nearly collapsing in a grooming case.
This is a developing story
