Elon Musk cries as he shakes politics in Europe. What is his endgame?

As if listening to incoming US President Donald Trump wasn’t enough, tech billionaire Elon Musk has been on a tear this week, insulting European politicians left and right, and using posts on his own social media platform, X, to promote it. Disrupting politics across the continent.

The French president, politicians in Germany and officials at the European Commission have felt Musk’s wrath online, over issues related to their electability and alleged hypocrisy. But it was his violent attacks on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other UK politicians that stood out.

In a 72-hour period beginning over the weekend, Musk suggested to King Charles that he sack Starmer and call a new election, pushing the false claim that Starmer was “deeply complicit in gang rapes” and should be sent to prison.

Musk also posted that it may be up to the US to “liberate” Britons from their “tyrannical government.”

These accusations focused on Starmer’s role in an ugly chapter in Britain’s modern judicial history, regarding the prosecution of gangs of mostly British-Pakistani men who lured and sexually exploited thousands of girls between approximately 1997 and 2013.

Starmer was head of the country’s prosecution system starting in 2008 and oversaw several criminal prosecutions. Musk, without any evidence and in the face of repeated inquiries that said otherwise, blamed Starmer for inaction.

A 2022 investigation, headed by Scottish child protection expert Professor Alexis Guy, concluded that although there was no prosecutorial cover-up, local authorities – but not Starmer – had made mistakes.

Musk also denigrated Jess Phillips, the Labor minister now responsible for women’s protection, as an apologist for “rape and genocide” for refusing to heed calls for another national inquiry – although Guy said a new inquiry would only delay implementation of the recommendations. issued by the committee. Her report.

Musk’s inflammatory accusations have put Labor on the defensive and provided new ammunition for opponents on the political right, says Tim Bell, a longtime observer of British politics at Queen Mary University of London.

“In all my years covering British politics, I cannot remember an incident like this,” Bell told CBC News. “(Musk’s) goal appears to be to destabilize the British government and also to emphasize to Donald Trump that this is not an administration he wants to be friends with.”

France and Norway raise concerns

Starmer’s Labor Party is one of the few remaining centre-left governments in Europe, where recent elections have seen seismic shifts to the right, including in Italy, Slovakia and the Netherlands.

Germany’s Social Democrats could be the next loser, with elections looming in February, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz is widely expected to lose.

Musk has endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and said he plans to use X to host a debate with its leader, Alice Weidel, who is a strong critic of multiculturalism. Some prominent AfD members were as well forsaken For their failure to condemn the war crimes committed by the Nazis.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday criticized Musk for his “direct interference” in elections in Europe. Other EU leaders want to see regulators impose fines and other legal penalties on Musk for improperly using his social media platform.

Reuters quoted Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Jahr Sture as saying that Musk’s political influence had become very worrying, and a Spanish government spokesman said on Tuesday that social media platforms must always act with “absolute neutrality.”

Bell says the goal of Musk’s intervention may be to force unfriendly European governments to roll back tougher regulations that could hurt tech companies. For example, the UK has just passed new digital regulation with enhanced oversight of big tech companies and their business models.

“He (Musk) may make it more difficult for the British government to regulate social media platforms,” Bell said.

Fighting with Farage

But being on friendly terms with Musk does not seem like a guarantee of avoiding his wrath.

Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK’s Reform Party, who just three weeks ago had lunch at Trump’s Mar-a-Largo resort with Musk and expected the tech mogul to make a major donation to his increasingly popular party, suddenly found himself on the outside, Musk called. . To replace him as party leader.

UK reform supports policies such as deep cuts to immigration, eliminating net-zero emissions targets, and significantly cutting taxes and spending.

The dispute between the two men appears to stem from Musk’s insistence on the need to release far-right and anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson from prison. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, is a former member of an openly fascist British political party, who has served several terms in prison, including for fraud and contempt of court.

Both Farage and Starmer – who rarely agree on much – contend that Robinson’s use of Facebook Live and violating a judge’s order by broadcasting prohibited details of a 2018 sexual exploitation case in the Huddersfield community nearly resulted in a mistrial.

Farage, who has been trying to improve the Reform Party’s image in the UK to attract more Conservative supporters, said courting Robinson could cause “enormous damage” to his party. But Musk has chirp Robinson deserves to be released, and Farage should be fired.

Starmer applauds again

In one of his strongest public statements since becoming prime minister last summer, Starmer took aim at Musk on Tuesday, accusing the world’s richest man of spreading lies.

“I’m prepared to call this out for what it is,” Starmer said. “We’ve seen this playbook too many times, which has sparked intimidation and threats of violence, in the hope that the media will amplify it.” “When the poison of the far right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others, in my book, the line has been crossed.”

Many in the United Kingdom also blamed Musk for stoking anger and inciting violence following the killing of three young men at a dance class in Southport, England, this summer. Musk republished conspiracy theories from far-right accounts linking the incident to mass migration, suggesting that a “civil war” in the UK was inevitable.

It is difficult to gauge the appeal of Musk’s interventions with the British public. In the wake of Musk’s attacks on social media, pollster YouGov Republished The most recent poll was conducted in November, confirming that at the time, Musk was unpopular with 64 percent of the British public.

On the other hand, Labor may be concerned that Musk’s attacks — whether sincere or not — could cause harm.

A Labor Party minister appeared to respond to Musk’s recent accusations advertisement That people who fail to report child sexual abuse could face criminal prosecution as part of a new law to be introduced later in 2025 – one of the recommendations in Professor Guy’s report.

For Starmer and other European politicians, attacking Musk comes with risks, says Bell of St. Mary’s.

“They know that Musk is really close to Trump, and by insulting Musk, they might turn Trump against them.”