Should Starmer worry about Elon Musk’s attacks on his government?

One of Sir Keir Starmer’s biggest challenges in 2025 will come not from the Conservative Party, or even inside Parliament or the UK, but from the heart of Donald Trump’s administration.

The prime minister has faced a barrage of attacks from Elon Musk since July’s general election, with the Tesla tycoon’s fury heating up in recent days over renewed calls for an inquiry into child sexual exploitation and grooming in Oldham.

The billionaire has latched onto fury at failings in the handling of historical child sex abuse cases across the country, calling for Sir Keir to be removed from office and saying safeguarding minister Jess Phillips should be jailed.

But despite being the world’s richest man, and a core member of Mr Trump’s inner circle, Mr Musk’s tirades against the British government have often strayed into outright misinformation.

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The Independent looks at how seriously Sir Keir should take the threat of Mr Musk, and how much time he should spend hitting back at the billionaire’s outbursts.

Elon Musk’s support for Mr Trump was a key factor in the former president’s successful bid to return to the White House. With 210 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), not to mention his ownership of the platform, he wields huge influence over public discourse and enjoys particular support among young men.

But despite his reach, pollster Luke Tryl, UK director of the More in Common think tank, has said Mr Musk’s approval rating is “underwater”.

More in Common polling shows Reform UK voters are the only people who have a positive view of Mr Musk, with Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and Green supporters all opposing the billionaire.

So while Mr Musk has the power to reach millions through his own account, and amplify content to millions more via X, his views, particularly claims that the UK is “going full Stalin” under Sir Keir, do not resonate with a large majority of voters.

Chris Hopkins, political research director at pollster Savanta, told The Independent: “On the one hand, the public aren’t perennially online and really engaging with the narrative Musk is trying to exert, but ignoring it and hoping it goes away doesn’t feel like a great strategy either.”

A Labour grandee on Saturday called for Sir Keir to establish a “Musk rebuttal unit” in Downing Street so claims about Sir Keir, Ms Phillips and other top figures do not go unchallenged.

“When people tell lies about you, you have to tell the truth about yourself and do it in a way that dominates all the channels,” Tony Blair’s former political secretary John McTernan told LBC.

“You can’t stand back and have slanderous accusations made against Jess Phillips,” he added. “The government should back her in taking legal action.”

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But Mr McTernan cautioned against the PM stooping to Mr Musk’s level, urging Sir Keir to “be above” responding to many of Mr Musk’s criticisms.

Mr Hopkins warned that responding to all of Mr Musk’s attacks risks lending additional legitimacy to the billionaire’s views. “But he also can’t be seen to be bullied by someone who could be a key figure in the Trump administration,” he told The Independent.

This appears to be the hope of those in Sir Keir’s inner circle, with one pointing out to The Times last week that once Mr Trump has returned to the White House, Mr Musk’s more controversial posts may have to stop.

The insider said: “He can’t sustain active support for AfD and Reform and be a member of the administration after January 20. He’s in effect declaring war on the main US allies in Europe.”

Mr Musk’s musings aside, the billionaire poses a much bigger threat to Sir Keir through his financial and social media backing of Reform.

Reform has been given a higher verification status than Labour or the Conservatives on X, with the platform deeming it a government or multilateral organisation account as opposed to a political party.

Despite Nigel Farage saying a rumoured $100m donation to Reform was “for the birds”, he confirmed on Sunday that Mr Musk is considering a major handout to the party. Mr Musk has called for Mr Farage to be replaced as Reform’s leader, but it is unclear how serious he is or whether this would lead to him taking any funding for the party off the table.

But any multi-million-pound funding boost would go towards a relentless online air war against Sir Keir’s already unpopular Labour Party, helping Mr Farage sweep up votes across the country.

So while he can rise above low blows from Mr Musk on X, Sir Keir must be prepared for a much more serious onslaught from a fully-funded Musk-backed Reform UK at the next general election.