A UK minister accuses Musk of endangering his life

Home Office Minister Jess Phillips has said that the “disinformation” spread by Elon Musk about self-righteous groups in the UK and the government’s response is “putting his life at risk”.

Phillips has come under sustained attack from the tech billionaire, who has called him an “evil witch” and a “rape killer”, while calling for him to be jailed.

Britain has been rocked in recent days by a row over its handling of old whistleblower cases involving the sexual abuse of girls by British and Pakistani gangs after Musk asked that a new national inquiry into the scandal.

Musk’s fury against Phillips, who holds a UK government security clearance, began after it emerged he had rejected Oldham council’s request for the Home Office to launch a Whitehall-led inquiry into grooming scandal in the city of Greater Manchester.

Instead, the Home Office has urged local authorities to carry out their own review, citing examples of investigations in other towns hit by rape crimes, including Telford and Rotherham, as it highlighted a national investigation. on child sexual abuse ending in 2022.

On Tuesday Phillips told the BBC that threats to his life had increased since Musk criticized him on his social media platform X, describing the situation as “very troubling”, but added: “I’m no stranger to people who don’t know it. know what they’re talking about trying to silence women like me.”

However, he added that his treatment at the hands of Musk “was nothing” compared to the experience of victims of abuse.

Phillips told Sky News that SpaceX owner Musk should “get on with getting to Mars” and vented his anger at political opponents, including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who pushed for a national inquiry into and cleaning groups after Musk made the same demand.

Musk has been approached for comment.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer issued a strong defense of Phillips on Monday, paying tribute to her record of protecting female victims of abuse and exploitation.

Phillips’ comments come after shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick admitted the Conservatives could have “done more” to crack down on sex abuse groups while in government.

Jenrick defended the record of the previous Tory administration, but told the BBC: “Could we have done more, should we be doing more now? Yes, absolutely – we have to root this out .”

He said the review by Professor Alexis Jay, who led a seven-year national inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales, which reported in 2022, only looked at gangs in six cities, but added that they may have worked up to 50.

Jenrick also defended his party’s criticism of the Labor government’s decision not to launch a Whitehall-led inquiry into the Oldham scandal.

When challenged over the last Tory government’s refusal to launch an investigation into gang rape in Oldham, he said the previous request came from “a small number of councillors”, while the latest was that of the local authority itself.

Jenrick, who stood unsuccessfully for the Tory leadership last year, defended his controversial view last week that mass immigration to the UK from “unfamiliar cultures” with “an attitude of in the middle ages about women” contributed to this stigma.

He said he would not “hide” or “sanitize” his speech to avoid offending, pointing to evidence that fear of being labeled a racist had contributed to authorities failing to act against the worst offenders. men of Pakistani heritage.

Starmer accused Conservative politicians of “to amplify what is being said is far away” about child sexual abuse, after failing to act “for 14 long years”.

Jay on Tuesday said there had been “politicization” of the issue and warned that a new inquiry could delay the implementation of his review’s recommendations.

He criticized people for “getting into an argument” about the issue “in an ignorant way”.

Jay has criticized the former Conservative government for failing to implement the 20 key recommendations in its 2022 report, which warned of “death” abuse in society.