Elon Musk recently shared a personal story about his British grandmother, Cora Amelia Robinson, to criticize the UK government’s handling of child grooming gangs. He highlighted her struggles during the Great Depression and World War II, noting that she cleaned houses to support her family. Musk suggested that if she were alive today, she might have been vulnerable to abduction in present-day Britain.
This commentary is part of Musk’s broader criticism of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s handling of child sexual abuse cases during his tenure as director of public prosecutions. Musk accused Starmer of failing to prosecute grooming gangs effectively and labeled safeguarding minister Jess Phillips as a “rape genocide apologist.”
Musk’s remarks have sparked significant debate in the UK, with officials like Jess Phillips dismissing his comments as uninformed and disruptive. She emphasized her commitment to combating child exploitation and criticized Musk for spreading misinformation.
However, A British politician who Elon Musk has referred to as a “rape genocide apologist” said on Tuesday that the billionaire knew “absolutely nothing” about the child sexual abuse issues on which he has recently spoken.
Musk, a Trump admirer, has spent days posting posts on his social media platform X accusing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of neglecting to pursue gangs of criminals who raped young children while Starmer was director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.
Musk has also targeted Starmer’s safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, calling her a “rape genocide apologist” who should be imprisoned. Phillips has spent the majority of her career working with victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.
Musk and opposition politicians have called for a new national inquiry into the scandals, after Phillips advised the council of a town where sex abuse instances were recorded that it should conduct its own investigation.
Other investigations into child abuse scandals have taken place in other parts of northern England. A bigger national public inquiry into child sexual abuse, including in churches and schools, issued a report in 2022 with a number of recommendations that have yet to be followed.
My British grandmother, Cora Amelia Robinson, was an important part of my childhood. She was very strict, but also kind and I could always count on her.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2025
She grew up very poor in England during the Great Depression only to be bombed in WW2. To earn money for food, she cleaned…
On Monday, Starmer defended his work as Britain’s top prosecutor, responding to Musk’s criticism by stating that “those spreading lies and misinformation…are not interested in victims, they are interested in themselves.”
Phillips told ITV that Musk’s statements, which she called “ridiculous,” turned her “world upside down.”
“It’s not great and the thing that annoys me the most about it is that it takes so much bandwidth of my time from a man who knows absolutely nothing about the subject he is talking about,” Phillips told the audience.
On Monday, Sky News reported that a man had been charged after making threats against Phillips. Devon and Cornwall Police said that a man has been charged with three charges of malicious communication between April 2024 and January 2025, but did not identify the victims.
In another interview with Sky News, Phillips stated that she has dedicated her life to combating child abuse and that it has been “painful” to see it become a “political football”.
Responding to Starmer’s criticism, Musk stated on X that the prime minister was “deeply complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes,” adding, “That’s what the inquiry will show.”