Elon Musk’s attacks on the UK Government’s handling of child grooming gangs are “misjudged and certainly misinformed”, Wes Streeting said. The Health Secretary, however, offered an olive branch to tech billionaire Mr Musk, urging him to work with the UK Government to tackle online child abuse.
The Tesla owner has claimed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.
Mr Musk, a key member of incoming US President Donald Trump’s inner circle, also suggested safeguarding minister Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison” after she denied requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham on Thursday.
Oldham must follow in the footsteps other towns like Rotherham and Telford and commission its own inquiry into historical abuse of children, Ms Philips said in a letter to the local council.
A national inquiry by Professor Alexis Jay concluded in 2022, and probes into Greater Manchester Police’s handling of historical child sex abuse cases in Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale have been carried out.
Pressed if Mr Musk’s comments were unhelpful to the Government, Health Secretary Mr Streeting told ITV News that ministers took child sexual exploitation “incredibly seriously”.
He added: “Some of the criticisms that Elon Musk has made, I think, are misjudged and certainly misinformed, but we’re willing to work with Elon Musk, who I think has got a big role to play with his social media platform, to help us and other countries to tackle this serious issue.
“So if he wants to work with us and roll his sleeves up, we’d welcome that.”
Andrew Gwynne, a minister working in Mr Streeting’s health team, had earlier taken a stronger stance, suggesting Mr Musk should to stick to US politics, where he is set to act as an unelected adviser to the Trump presidency on cutting federal spending.
Mr Gwynne told LBC: “Elon Musk is an American citizen and perhaps ought to focus on issues on the other side of the Atlantic.”
He added that child grooming was a “very serious issue” and listed the host of investigations which had taken place into sexual abuse scandals.
The minister continued: “There comes a point where we don’t need more inquiries, and had Elon Musk really paid attention to what’s been going on in this country, he might have recognised that there have already been inquiries.”
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 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.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Mr Musk’s comments were ill-informed
(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
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.
Mr Streeting said the Government was committed to implementing the recommendations of Professor Jay’s report “in full”.
Sir Keir and his top team have so far sought not to get drawn into a war of words with Mr Musk.
However, Mr Gwynne’s response to the latest attacks from the Tesla billionaire represents a rare example of a robust response from a minister.
The 53-year-old businessman is also reportedly considering a major donation to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party after they were pictured together in the US in December.
Lord Peter Mandelson, the new UK ambassador to Washington, suggested before he was appointed that Mr Farage could be used as a go-between to quell the row between Mr Musk and the Government.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has meanwhile said a full national inquiry into organised grooming gangs is “long overdue”.
Her shadow ministers have pressured Labour to back an Oldham-specific investigation, despite the Conservatives having snubbed such an idea into government.