British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has agreed to this US tech billionaire Elon Musk accused of spreading “lies and disinformation”.after he heavily criticized the authorities’ handling of more than a thousand rape cases in northern England more than ten years ago.
Those “who spread lies and misinformation” don’t care about the victims “but only about themselves,” Starmer told reporters on Monday. without mentioning Musk by name.
Musk had Starmer who was head of Britain’s CPS criminal prosecution service at the time of the crimes, in recent days attacked in a series of posts on his online platform X.
“Who was at the head of the CPS when gangs of rapists were able to exploit young girls without having to face justice? “Keir Starmer,” Musk wrote there on Thursday. He further called for a new public inquiry into the incidents.
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Musk responded to Starmer’s accusation on Monday with another insult: “Starmer is absolutely despicable,” the entrepreneur wrote on X. He had repeatedly “ignored the requests of many little girls and their parents.”
More than ten years ago it became known that more than 1,500 girls and young women had been raped in northern England over decades. Dozens of men, mainly from Muslim countries in South Asia, were convicted in several court cases. The victims were vulnerable and primarily white women.
Starmer defends himself
Media reports later revealed a failure by police and social workers. In many cases they were unable to stop the abuse for fear of appearing racist. The rapes have long been taken up again and again by right-wing extremists in Great Britain, including the imprisoned Tommy Robinson, whose release Musk also called for.
Asked about the attacks on X, Starmer defended his record as head of the CPS. He also said that he did not want to attribute the attacks to individual people like US billionaire Musk, but he did “Some of the critical statements crossed a line” become.
Musk, who was appointed special adviser by future US President Donald Trump, has been using his online service since Trump’s election victory to intervene in the politics of European allies with aggressive comments.
He supports right-wing extremist politicians and primarily attacks the British government and the federal government. In the past few weeks he had insulted Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. At the same time, he called for the right-wing extremist AfD to be elected in the federal election.