Nigel Farage has defended Elon Musk after the billionaire attacked the Labour government’s response to grooming gangs
In a series of social media posts on X, Musk suggested Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute gangs and said Home Office minister Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison”.
His outburst came as the Home Office defended its decision to reject a request for it to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.
The Conservatives and Reform UK have called for a wider national inquiry.
Asked about Mr Musk’s comments on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Farage said he had used “very tough terms” but that “free speech was back” on X under his ownership.
Mr Musk’s latest incendiary intervention on UK politics came after Ms Phillips, a safeguarding minister, instructed Oldham Council to launch its own local inquiry into historic child sexual abuse in the town, similar to inquiries set up in Rochdale and Telford.
The local authority had called for a government-led inquiry.
The tech tycoon suggested Sir Keir had failed to properly prosecute rape gangs while director of public prosecutions (DPP), and has repeatedly shared posts from Reform and Conservative MPs calling for a national inquiry.
Mr Musk, who is a key advisor to incoming US President Donald Trump, called the prime minister “two-tier Keir” and accused Ms Phillips of being a “rape genocide apologist”.
Asked about the comments, Mr Farage told the Sunday morning show that “tough things get said… by both sides of the debate”.
“This man happens to be the richest man in the world, but equally, the fact that he’s bought Twitter now actually gives us a place where we can have a proper open debate about many things… We may find it offensive, but it’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” he said.
Earlier this week, Mr Farage distanced himself from Musk’s support for Tommy Robinson – a far-right activist who is serving a jail term for committing contempt of court.
Mr Farage added: “I just think people ask themselves, what has happened to our country? How could this possibly have happened? Why did everybody want to cover it up? Why has there been no full public inquiry?”
There have been several investigations into grooming gangs in various parts of England, including Rotherham, Bristol, Cornwall and Derbyshire.
An inquiry into abuse in Rotherham found 1,400 children had been sexually abused over a 16-year period, predominantly by British Pakistani men.
An investigation in Telford found that up to 1,000 girls had been abused over 40 years – and that some cases had not been investigated because of “nervousness about race”.
Police figures from 2023 reveal that group-based child sexual abuse accounted for 3.7% of all sexual offences against children reported to police.
According to the data, 26% of group-based child sexual abuse happened within families, compared with 17% involving groups including grooming gangs.
