In January 2025, tech mogul and X owner Elon Musk started a social media storm by accusing (archived) U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer of being complicit in so-called "rape gangs" or "grooming gangs" evading justice while Starmer was head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
On Jan. 3, Musk posted (archived): "Starmer was complicit in the RAPE OF BRITAIN when he was head of Crown Prosecution for 6 years. Starmer must go and he must face charges for his complicity in the worst mass crime in the history of Britain."
(X user @elonmusk)
"Grooming gangs" is a term used in the U.K. to describe a series of cases where groups of adult men have abused, and in some cases trafficked for abuse, children and young women. Discussions around these groups have historically been tied to issues of race, as high-profile cases, including in Rochdale and Rotherham, in the north of England, featured Asian perpetrators and white victims.
Musk also lashed out at U.K. Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls Jess Phillips, calling (archived) her a "wicked witch" and (archived) "rape genocide apologist," and saying she should be in prison (archived).
The posts continued for the next few days, with Musk repeating his allegations about Starmer being "complicit" and calling for a national inquiry (archived), though he later amplified a post (archived) that said an inquiry was not necessary.
We did not find any reputable evidence of this alleged complicity. An investigation by our fellow International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) signatory Full Fact similarly found no evidence that Starmer "tried to block the prosecution of Muslim grooming gangs" during his time as head of the CPS. Starmer denied the claims during an address to reporters on Jan. 6.
When asked about Musk's allegations on Jan. 6, Starmer first said (at the 19:22 time stamp in the video below) that he imagined people were "more interested about what's going to happen with the NHS, frankly, than what's happening on Twitter." The National Health Service (NHS) is the public health system in the U.K. Twitter is the former name of X.
Starmer then dismissed the claims as false, though without directly naming Musk, saying: "Because those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible, they're not interested in victims. They're interested in themselves."
He then went on to address allegations against Jess Phillips directly:
Shortly after this speech, Musk hit back again, doubling down on claims that Starmer was "complicit" (archived) in grooming gangs and deriding the prime minister as "despicable" (archived).
Phillips spoke to BBC Newsnight and Sky News in the U.K, telling Newsnight host Victoria Derbyshire that threats to her safety had gone up since the claims were made. Speaking to Sky News, Phillips called the claims "ridiculous" and said that Musk should "crack on with this 'getting to Mars'" rather than interfering in British politics, according to a report.
Phillips has previously been the target of threats. BBC News reported on Jan. 7 that a man had been charged following reports of threats towards the minister between April 2024 and January 2025.
Musk had previously posted (archived) about grooming gangs in the U.K. in August 2024, tagging the newly elected Starmer to ask: "Is this still happening?" alongside an image of a a newspaper front page from 2014 about grooming gang convictions in Rotherham. Then, on Jan. 1, 2025, Musk responded to a GB News report that Phillips had turned down a request from Oldham Council for a government inquiry into grooming gangs in the area. "She deserves to be in prison," Musk wrote (archived) of Phillips.
Starmer Reopened Closed Cases, Instated New Guidance During Time at CPS
Musk's claim, and the versions of it that have spread (archived) to other social media platforms (archived), related directly to Starmer's time as head of the CPS from 2008-2013. The CPS prosecutes criminal cases in England and Wales after they have been investigated, and is an independent body from the police and government.
We did not find any reputable evidence in our research that indicated Starmer was complicit in the actions of grooming gangs in the U.K. from 2008-2013. Indeed, two facts from his time as head of the CPS point to his being a chief prosecutor who overhauled the system for prosecuting child sexual abuse.
In 2022, our fellow International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) signatory Full Fact in the U.K. checked a claim that Starmer, as chief prosecutor, "tried to block the prosecution of Muslim grooming gangs" and found no evidence of this.
In 2012, nine men were convicted of being part of a child sexual exploitation ring, or grooming gang, in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in the north of England. The case was previously investigated but not prosecuted in 2008, a decision that was reversed in 2011 by Starmer's newly appointed Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West England, Nazir Afzal.
Afzal and Starmer both gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee in November 2012 about their work in the Rochdale case and the procedural challenges they had faced. This government committee, made up of members of the British Parliament from across the three largest political parties, is responsible for scrutinizing the work of the Home Office and related bodies.
Following the Rochdale convictions and renewed discussions around the race of the perpetrators and age of the victims, Starmer spoke to the British newspaper The Times about the CPS and how it prosecuted rape cases. In the interview he remarked on shortcomings in how the CPS handled these cases and its approach to the victims. According to Full Fact and a copy of the paywalled article quote on the website of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors' Association, Starmer said:
In a number of cases presented to us, particularly in cases involving groups, there's clearly an issue of ethnicity that has to be understood and addressed. As prosecutors we shouldn't shy away from that. But if we're honest it's the approach to the victims, the credibility issue, that causes these cases not to be prosecuted in the past. There was a lack of understanding.
Afzal also touched on the discussion of race in relation to the Rochdale case — the nine convicted men were Asian and their victims were white — at the Home Affairs Committee, echoing Starmer's sentiment above: race was "an issue but not the issue" in prosecutions.
During his time at the CPS, Starmer issued new guidelines for prosecutors on child sexual abuse cases in court that were praised by organizations such as children's charity Barnardo's.
A key part of these guidelines was the "approach to the victims" mentioned in the Times quote. The guidelines addressed factors around victims that, in the past, might have led to a case being dropped or dismissed such as clothing, behavior or being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to reporting in the Guardian.
Musk, Opposition Call for National Inquiry Despite Publication in 2022
In one of his numerous posts on X about child sexual abuse, Musk initially supported calls for a "national enquiry." Similar calls were also made by Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, currently leading the opposition, and other Conservative politicians.
In fact, the U.K. has recently held a national inquiry into child sexual abuse: The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. The inquiry looked into the "extent to which State and non-State institutions failed in their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation" and delivered its findings in 2022, including 20 recommendations for improvements in the field.
The inquiry included an investigation into child sexual exploitation by organized networks like, for example, grooming gangs.
Starmer also referenced this report in his Jan 6. speech, noting a complaint also made by the report's author, Professor Alexis Jay CBE: that the recommendations had not yet been implemented under the Conservatives, who were in government in the U.K. when the report was published.
In 2023, Jay told the Independent newspaper: "We spent eight years and a great deal of money — it's in the nature of a public inquiry that they cost a lot, but more important is that the outcome of it is that those recommendations are implemented."
Starmer is not the first foreign leader who has dealt with allegations made on X by Musk about non-U.S. domestic politics.
In December, Musk openly endorsed the right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland and called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an "oaf" who "will lose" (archived) following allegations of undue meddling through the AfD endorsement.
On Jan. 6, Emannuel Macron, the president of France, referenced this exchange in a speech to the nation's ambassadors, saying: "Who could have imagined, 10 years ago, that the owner of one of the world's largest social networks would intervene directly in elections, including in Germany?"
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told national broadcaster NRK on Jan. 6: "I find it worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and huge economic resources involves himself so directly in the internal affairs of other countries."
Back in the U.K. Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, the country's third-largest political party, called for the U.S. ambassador to be summoned over Musk's comments. Davey wrote:
People have had enough of Elon Musk interfering with our country's democracy when he clearly knows nothing about Britain.
It's time to summon the US ambassador to ask why an incoming US official is suggesting the UK government should be overthrown.
This dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric is further proof that the UK can't rely on the Trump administration.
It's in our national interest to rebuild trade and security ties with our allies in Europe.
We have reached out to the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to ask whether the U.S. ambassador has or will be summoned over Musk's claims.