Elon Musk’s drift to the far right and his burgeoning clash with the U.K government is part of a wider plan to oust Prime Minister Keir Starmer before the next election and plot the ascension of a far-right government, a new report suggests.
The world’s richest man has made the U.K. his very public new pet project after helping secure the reelection of Donald Trump to the White House in November, stoking up anger over a historic child grooming scandal while amplifying far-right commentators on his social media platform, X.
The Financial Times reported that Musk has discussed with allies how he could escalate his efforts to destabilize the center-left Labour government beyond his current strategy of aggressively posting on X, citing people informed on the matter.
Musk has developed a keen interest in U.K. politics in recent months, beginning with posts on his X account during last summer’s riots, which unfolded across the country in the wake of a mass stabbing that killed three children in Southport.
He has reportedly discussed funding the right-wing Reform party, led by Nigel Farage, to the tune of £100 million, while more recently calling for Farage to be replaced.
A representative for Musk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk’s shift to the right
Musk has a longer track record of comments on a growing population crisis in the West, pleading with citizens in the U.S. and Europe to have more children, which undercut his increased wading into cultural debates in the U.K. and elsewhere.
“His view is that Western civilization itself is threatened,” the FT reported one source as saying.
The billionaire said civil war was “inevitable” in the wake of riots that were mainly stoked by far-right protesters.
He has since brought renewed attention to a historic grooming gangs scandal that first made headlines in 2010 when five British-Pakistani men in Rotherham were convicted of sex offenses against girls between the ages of 12 and 16. A formal inquiry later found that around 1,400 girls had been abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
Musk, who has called for a national inquiry into U.K. grooming gangs, has accused Starmer of being “complicit” in the scandal while he was head of the Crown Prosecution Service, and has called safeguarding minister Jess Phillips a “rape genocide apologist” for declining to commission fresh inquiries in other towns.
On Monday, Starmer said those spreading “lies and disinformation” were more interested in themselves than the victims, though he didn’t name Musk directly.
Musk has also called for the release of Tommy Robinson, cofounder of the far-right English Defence League (EDL), who is now in prison. Robinson has long been vocal about the grooming scandal and has continued to amplify it since it made national news.
Robinson, who has an extensive criminal record, is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court after he was found to have repeated false claims about a young Syrian refugee in his self-made documentary.
Musk’s reported plans to remove Starmer wouldn’t necessarily lead to the collapse of the government. In the U.K., the prime minister is the leader of the party with the most seats in Parliament. Several recent PMs, including Theresa May, David Cameron, and Tony Blair, have stood down prior to elections owing to falling popularity without any immediate repercussions for the electorate.
Musk’s European tilt
The U.K. is just one of many European countries that Musk has targeted using his X account, where he boasts more than 200 million followers.
Musk is set to host a discussion with AfD leader Alice Weidel on Thursday ahead of Germany’s parliamentary elections in February.
Beyond links to his increased contributions to the brewing culture war, Musk’s motivation for his support of far-right parties is unclear.
The billionaire has also been outspoken on free speech and critical of social media practices and government policies intended to tackle misinformation.
