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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has responded to Elon Musk about his comments about the UK's handling of sexual assault cases.
The billionaire hopeful of US president-elect Donald Trump has criticized Starmer and public defender Jess Phillips in a series of posts on X in recent days, mainly to complain about the failure to prosecute the perpetrators.
In a speech in Epsom, Surrey, on Monday, Starmer said “the line has been drawn”, adding that “those who spread lies and disinformation to this extent, are not interested in the victims – they are interested in them”.
“We've seen this book many times—it's full of threats and threats of violence, we hope the media will amplify it.” . . When right-wing venom leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others, then in my book the line is crossed,” Starmer said.
Musk who has tweeted repeatedly about UK politics since Labor was elected in July, recently describing Phillips as a “rape advocate” and a “wicked witch”.
He has written several times about the historic case involving sex grooming gangs in the north of England.
On Friday, Musk said that Starmer “had a hand in the rape of Britain”, referring to the prime minister's role in dealing with the UK's public prosecutor's office when evidence of gangs emerged more than ten years ago.
Allegations that Starmer is responsible for the failure to bring gangs to justice, in particular, in the case of 2009 when the decision was taken not to prosecute the perpetrators in the town of Rochdale.
Lawyers at the time believed that the victim would not be found trustworthy or reliable.
Starmer had been director of public prosecutions for nine months when the decision was made, but there is no evidence that he was informed of the details of the case at the time.
Starmer said on Monday that as chief prosecutor for five years he had gone head-to-head with gangs and reopened various cases.
He also criticized those – including Musk – who supported far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, saying he was a man who was going to prison for falling under the charge of grooming.
This is a growing story