UK PM responds to Elon Musk's grooming gang charge: 'Lies and misinformation'

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has robustly defended his record as Britain's former director of public prosecutions (DPP) amid accusations by US billionaire Elon Musk that he failed to prosecute grooming gangs responsible for the sexual abuse of young girls.

Musk, an ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, has used his social media platform, X, to repeatedly criticise Starmer, alleging negligence during his tenure as DPP between 2008 and 2013.

At a press conference on Monday, Starmer refused to address Musk by name but directly tackled the claims. He described his efforts as Britain's top prosecutor to bring justice in cases involving grooming gangs, some of which coincided with his time in office.

"When I was chief prosecutor for five years, I tackled that head-on," news agency Reuters quoted Starmer as saying. "That's why I reopened cases that had been closed and supposedly finished. I brought the first major prosecution of an Asian grooming gang and changed the whole prosecution approach," he added.

Furthermore, Starmer claimed that his work had led to a significant increase in the prosecution of child sexual abuse cases, nothing that when he left his post, the number of cases being prosecuted was the highest on record.

He accused his critics of spreading "lies and misinformation", saying, "Those that are spreading lies as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims; they are interested in themselves".

Musk, however, continued his criticism, posting on X after Starmer's comments, calling him "utterly despicable". Musk's remarks have included inflammatory suggestions, such as polling his followers on whether the United States should "liberate" the UK from its "tyrannical government".

Starmer, who has largely refrained from engaging with Musk's broader criticisms of his leadership, appeared determined to set the record straight regarding the grooming gang allegations.

The issue remains a sensitive one in the UK. A 2014 inquiry revealed that at least 1,400 children were victims of sexual exploitation in Rotherham, northern England, between 1997 and 2013.

The report highlighted systematic failures by local authorities and noted that the majority of known perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage. It also pointed out that some officials were reluctant to address the ethnic aspect of the crimes for fear of being accused of racism.