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Starmer finds his backbone as he stands up to Elon Musk “interfering in our politics”

Maddison Wheeldon by Maddison Wheeldon
4 June 2026
in Analysis, UK
Reading Time: 4 mins read
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UK PM Keir Starmer appears to have found his backbone as he strengthens his rhetoric towards divisive X owner Elon Musk, saying the billionaire:

has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division.

That is not who we are in Britain.

Adding:

When it comes to disgusting images on Grok, we take Grok on and fight, because that’s who we are as a country.

Starmer is right, of course, which is a refreshing change of pace. However, condemnation alone achieves precious little. The government must urgently curb the influence that super-rich elites wield over British politics and wider public debate – and he must make this behaviour expensive for Musk.

After all, if the government fails to act, those who draw huge profits from division will continue to inflame tensions and encourage further white grievance politics.

That risks bringing even more unrest, more intimidation, and more violence onto Britain’s streets as unaccountable powerful figures exploit public anger for their own nefarious purposes.

Keir Starmer on Henry Nowak murder:

Elon Musk again has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division.

That is not who we are in Britain.pic.twitter.com/N6qH2Bpnw8

— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 4, 2026

Starmer: ‘We react calmly, as his family have done’

Elon Musk has been peddling divisive content about Nowak’s death on X for months, using his typical far-right themes and incendiary rhetoric to whip up hate amongst racist white Britons. Farage has also joined this incitement, using the opportunity to convince predominantly white British men that our state is anti-white – playing again into the far-right toxic conspiracy theory that white people are being replaced in the UK.

Ahead of meeting Nowak’s family today, Starmer spoke to a journalist about how he feels about Musk’s dangerous meddling in British politics:

We need to also assert who we are as a country, because Musk, again, has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division.

That is not who we are in Britain. In Britain, we are reasonable, tolerant people.

When we have a terrible case like Henry’s case, Henry Novak, we react calmly, as his family have done.

He then referred to other sinister, harmful sexualised content created by Musk’s tech, with lucrative returns of course. After all, we’re sure paedophiles and perverts hadn’t even dreamed to have such an accessible tool in the past to create sick, sadistic and degrading content.

Until Musk came along to appeal to their sordid fantasies, of course, as Starmer also condemned saying:

When it comes to disgusting images on Grok, we take Grok on and fight, because that’s who we are as a country.

Yesterday, we examined how super-rich elites shape public attitudes and often direct undue suspicion and hostility towards already vulnerable marginalised communities. Yet when white men commit murder, rape, violence, or abuse, few politicians or commentators rush to portray white men as a collective threat.

Instead, they treat those crimes as the actions of individuals rather than evidence of a wider problem. However, when a Black or Brown person is the aggressor – or the victim is Jewish – there is always a moral panic to follow.

Elites are a danger to civil society

This surely highlights the dangerous impact a billionaire with impactful control over a social media platform can have in destabilising our society and bringing chaos to our streets. Southampton recently saw violent, aggressive ‘protests’ from a significantly large group of thuggish brutes who saw it as their ‘right’ to behave violently towards the police.

It is worth noting that this kind of violence does not erupt at peace marches — or even at the vigil held after Sarah Everard’s abduction and murder by a serving Met police officer. Time and again, these scenes emerge when figures such as Tommy Robinson, Nigel Farage, and Elon Musk inject themselves into events, inflame tensions, and encourage division for their own political purposes.

Musk, in particular, regularly uses his enormous platform to amplify provocative and divisive narratives. Despite appeals from Henry Nowak’s grieving family to reject hatred and avoid turning his death into a political football, Musk seized on the tragedy to promote claims that white people face systemic bias in the UK.

In doing so, he ignored the wishes of those closest to the victim and helped fuel the very tensions they had urged people to resist.

As Starmer also touched on, Musk has also been more than happy to make life easier for paedos and perverts on his platform by giving them the tools to create any image their depraved fantasies crave.

As a result, X’s Grok made images of child abuse and sexualised content of women without their consent — including a female Labour MP who is suing xAI for allowing the site prompt to create such harmful and degrading images.

Real action MUST be taken

Lord Blunkett — former Labour home secretary — has also called for legal action against Musk due to his inflammatory actions around Nowak’s murder. Referring to the mistaken identity of two officers who were subsequently targeted online, Blunkett said without legal action “it’s the wild west”:

"I hope on behalf of those two officers legal action will be taken, otherwise it's the wild west."@LordBlunkett calls for legal action against Elon Musk, after he linked the wrong police officer – who has now gone into hiding – to Henry Nowak's arrest.@maitlis | @jonsopel pic.twitter.com/vXI1tpt6SV

— The News Agents (@TheNewsAgents) June 4, 2026

Dangerous elites appeal to dangerous men

MP Jess Asato clearly has Keir Starmer’s backing in her legal case against Musk’s tech company, which she accuses of breaching data protection laws and misusing private information. Among the most disturbing content at the centre of the case is a video that Asato says depicts her being chloroformed and “prepared for a sexual assault”.

There is little evidence that society has benefited from handing vast amounts of power to billionaire tech elites such as Elon Musk. Instead, social media platforms have too often amplified some of the ugliest attitudes in society, giving those who spread abuse, hate, and misinformation an unprecedented platform and audience.

Furthermore, the algorithms behind these platforms actively reward outrage and hostility, pushing the most divisive content towards those most willing to see it. Needless to say, women, children, and marginalised communities often pay the highest price for that morally bankrupt business model.

Therefore, if Starmer is indeed serious about tackling these harms caused by Musk, he will need to do more than issue strongly worded condemnations.

He must find a way to hold powerful platforms to account and curb the corrosive influence that figures such as Musk can exert over public discourse.

Featured image via Joe Giddens – WPA Pool/Getty Images

Tags: Labour PartyUK
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Comments 4

  1. Paul F says:
    4 days ago

    Block X and issue a fine. If the MSM published or broadcast incitements to riot they would be fined and forced to apologise at the very least.
    Make social media accountable for what it platforms. That doesn’t prevent free speech but it does stop violent propaganda that has always been unacceptable.
    People are being vilified for posts supporting Palestine Action yet Musk can encourage rioting in the UK. One rule for the billionaires another for the rest of us.

    Reply
  2. Wiseowler says:
    3 days ago

    Fine Musk, ban Grok until full controls are in place, tax all of Musk’s UKNprofits at PAYE rate. But mist of all change the law on political funding to no funds from outside of UK and max £10k for individual contributions

    Reply
  3. Tom Clother says:
    3 days ago

    The article states ‘Musk, in particular, regularly uses his enormous platform to amplify provocative and divisive narratives. ‘

    His platform is ‘enormous’ only for as long as people and institutions use it and remain on it. There are such things as alternative platforms and concepts such as boycotts.

    Stop posting on X, stop reposting from X, refrain from reading anything posted on X. The more people that do so, the less power that Elon Musk will have via that platform.

    Reply
  4. Aaron Price says:
    3 days ago

    “Starmer finds his backbone as he stands up to Elon Musk” and then the whole article is about how he’s done nothing. Fucking stupid headline, I say this with love you guys are better than this, have a word with whoever writes the headlines

    Reply

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