Musk's concerns over UK child abuse scandal make many uneasy, is he 'politicising' the matter?

A former UK health worker accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of “politicising” rape of young girls in an attempt to slam British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Sara Rowbotham, who played a critical role in gathering evidence that led to the imprisonment of nine men in Rochdale told The Guardian that the billionaire had launched a “political swipe” at the prime minister that overlooked the plight of abuse survivors.

Musk, who is expected to play a crucial role in the upcoming reign of US President-elect Donald Trump urged King Charles II to dissolve the parliament. The contempt from the SpaceX CEO came after the Labour Party rejected a call for a national inquiry into child grooming. The tech billionaire triggered a major political row after he criticised Starmer’s handling of the child abuse in Oldham.

He insisted that the British premier has filed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions. Rowbotham who presented evidence of abuse and sexual grooming while working for the NHS in Rochdale between 2005 and 2011, questioned Musk’s intention behind his attacks.

More from World

Earthquake of magnitude 5.9 jolts Assam, tremors felt in Bhutan and north Bengal 5 US F-35 jets land in Puerto Rico amid tensions with Venezuela

Why is Rowbotham criticising Musk?

She insisted that the Tesla CEO is doing it for political mileage and nothing else. “What is [Musk’s] motivation for interfering? It seems very political. The person he is trying to go after is Keir Starmer – it is a political swipe that has nothing to do with the women and girls who have been abused time after time," she told The Guardian on Friday.

Musk shared about the rising instances of child grooming in the UK on his social media site more than 40 times in the past 24 hours. Several posts are from UK MPs including Reform UK’s Rupert Lowe and the Tories’ Robert Jenrick, while others include a video featuring the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who in October was jailed for 18 months for contempt of court.

Amid the chaos on Friday Musk asked the King to dissolve the parliament and called for another general election. While Rowbotham dismissed Musk’s public calls, she insisted that the UK still needs to get hold of the paedophiles around the world.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Trump urges Nato to back sanctions on Russia, calls for 50–100% tariffs on China

“We need to discover the motivations, not just sexual, behind this abuse, if we are going to prevent it from happening again and again,” she said. Meanwhile, the father of the woman who was a main prosecution witness against the Rochdale paedophile gang said it was “strange” that a US billionaire was attempting to intervene in the UK’s affairs. “It is strange that the richest man in the world has got time to start getting involved in UK politics," said the man whose eldest daughter was referred to as “Girl A” during the proceedings.

As per the court filing, Girl A was groomed and abused in Rochdale by at least 50 men from the age of 12. Her family discovered the abuse only after she turned 14. Meanwhile, UK’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting also insisted that Musk’s criticism was “misjudged and certainly misinformed”.

“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," Streeting said.

“So if he wants to work with us and roll his sleeves up, we’d welcome that,” he added.