Downing Street has refused to be drawn into a fresh war of words with Elon Musk after he called for a general election to oust Keir Starmer.
The world’s richest man stepped up his feud with the prime minister in a series of posts on X, the social media platform he owns.
Musk was responding to a post linking to a story on Labour’s plummeting poll ratings six months since Starmer’s landslide election victory.
He said: “A new election should be called in Britain.”
It was just one of a series of posts by Musk in the space of a few hours attacking the UK government.
He said safeguarding minister Jess Phillips should be jailed for ruling out a government inquiry into child grooming gangs in Oldham.
He also suggested that her decision was driven by the fact that Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions at the time.
Musk’s feud with the PM began during last summer’s riots when he was slapped down by No.10 for claiming “civil war is inevitable” in the UK.
His interventions are significant as he is now a close ally of US president-elect Donald Trump, who has made him the joint-head of a Department of Government Efficiency, tasked with slashing public spending in America.
Starmer is keen to cultivate close ties with the new administration, despite the fact that he and several of his cabinet have criticised Trump in the past.
Downing Street sources refused to comment on Musk’s latest outbursts when contacted by HuffPost UK.
Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch attempted to wade into the row by demanding a national inquiry into the groomings gangs scandals in several towns in northern England over the past decade.
She said: “The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal. Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice.”