Elon Musk has waded into an escalating row over grooming gangs following a Government decision about Oldham – calling on the King to step in. It comes after calls for a new public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the town were turned down by the Home Office.
A previous review, commissioned by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in 2019, found the council had failed vulnerable children but ‘no evidence’ of a cover-up. Oldham councillors voted in July to ask the Home Office for a new public inquiry, but the authority has since been told any such inquiry for the town should be set up locally.
Government minister Jess Phillips said she recognised the ‘strength of feeling’ for a Home Office-led inquiry into Oldham, but told the local council the Government will not ‘intervene’.
“I believe it is for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene,” she said. Oldham council said on Thursday that it has promised victims their voices will be heard despite the lack of government intervention.
In response, Mr Musk, a key member of US President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle, posted on X: “She [Jess Phillips] deserves to be in prison.”
And Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, also posted and shared a string of posts online critical of the Government. Taking to X – the social media site he owns and renamed from Twitter – he shared a post asking whether Charles ‘should dissolve parliament and order a General Election… for the sake and security’ of Britain.
Mr Musk retweeted the X thread with a one-word comment: “Yes.” The 53-year-old Starlink boss continued to wade into the debate overnight, and posted an article in The Daily Telegraph by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick in which the Conservative MP says ‘grooming gangs’ should be renamed ‘torture rape gangs’. Mr Jenrick had written that Mr Musk’s comments had shamed ‘the establishment by taking more interest in bringing these rape gangs to justice in one evening than most of the British establishment has for decades’.
Oldham councillors had called for a new inquiry
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Mr Musk continued his criticism in a post alongside footage of The Times’ chief investigative reporter Andrew Norfolk as he detailed the scope of the case and police mishandling, calling it ‘State-sponsored evil’. Mr Norfolk exposed the Rotherham child sexual exploitation ring in the UK press in 2011. In another comment on the same post, the Tesla owner branded the scandal and the child rapists involved as ‘utterly shameful’.
He also appeared to place blame at the door of Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, who had been director of public prosecutions for the Crown Prosecution Service from 2008 to 2013. Mr Musk said: “In the UK, serious crimes such as rape require the Crown Prosecution Service’s approval for the police to charge suspects.
“Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013.” In a series of posts on his social media site, Mr Musk described the Prime Minister as ‘two-tier Keir’, claiming there was ‘no justice for severe, violent crimes but prison for social media posts’.
Mr Musk also expressed his support for activist Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who was jailed for 18 months for contempt of court in October.
Opposition parties speak out
Senior Tories also sought to put pressure on the Government over grooming gangs. Tory leader Mrs Badenoch said: “The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal. Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots.
“2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice.” Shadow home secretary Chris Philp and shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns pressed for a statutory inquiry in Oldham.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch
(Image: Lucy North/PA)
They said that only a public inquiry ‘can adequately encompass the national nature of these crimes and issues’ and consider whether reports were ignored by the police, CPS and local council ‘or even covered up’. In 2022, the then-Conservative government also refused a request for a public inquiry into events in Oldham.
Responding to Mrs Badenoch’s post, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “Talk is cheap. The Conservatives had 14 years in government to launch an inquiry. The establishment has failed the victims of grooming gangs on every level.”
Mr Musk, who is rumoured to be considering a major donation to Mr Farage’s party, responded: “Exactly. Time for Reform.”
An Oldham Council spokesman said: “Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation. Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge.”
What Labour have said
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022, described the sexual abuse of children as an ‘epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake’”.
Led by Professor Alexis Jay, the inquiry looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol. In November last year, Professor Jay said she felt ‘frustrated’ that none of the probe’s 20 recommendations had been implemented more than two years after its conclusion.
A Labour spokesman said the Government is ‘working at pace to implement the recommendations’ in Professor Jay’s report. The spokesman added: “We have supported both the national overarching inquiry into child abuse which reported in 2022, and local independent inquiries and reviews including in Telford, Rotherham and Greater Manchester.
Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips’ response to Oldham Council has sparked the row
(Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA)
“This Government is working urgently to strengthen the law so that these crimes are properly reported and investigated. In Oldham the crimes committed by grooming gangs were horrific. Young girls were abused in the most cruel and sadistic way.
“Victims and the community need to know that all steps are taken to deliver justice and protect children properly in the future. We will welcome and support an independent investigation commissioned by Oldham Council which puts victims’ voices at its heart, following the examples of Telford and Rotherham.
“We also continue to support wider work commissioned by mayor Andy Burnham into child protection issues across Greater Manchester, following the review into historic safeguarding issues in Oldham which was published in 2022.”