Sir Keir Starmer defends his record prosecuting grooming gangs and accuses Elon Musk of 'lies and misinformation'

He said: “Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they’re interested in themselves.

“Those who are cheerleading Tommy Robinson are not interested in justice, they’re supporting a man who went to prison for nearly collapsing a grooming case.”

Sir Keir’s comments follow a flurry of posts by Mr Musk on his social media site, X, in which the billionaire claimed Ms Phillips “deserves to be in prison” for denying requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and called her a “rape genocide apologist”.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Musk suggested the Prime Minister was “complicit in the crimes” of child sex offenders, and in a separate post added: “Prison for Starmer.”

The right-hand man of President-elect Donald Trump also posted a poll on X which appeared to suggest the US should invade the UK to depose Sir Keir, and he has backed Tommy Robinson.

He also accused former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown of having “committed an unforgivable crime against the British people” and “sold those little girls for votes”, over his handling of grooming gangs while in office.

Asked about Mr Musk’s posts to his 210 million followers following a speech at Epsom Hospital in Surrey, the Prime Minister started by saying: “Child sexual exploitation is utterly sickening.

“For far too many years, too many victims have been completely let down.

“Let down by perverse ideas about community relations or by the idea that institutions must be protected above all else and they’ve not been listened to and they’ve not been heard.”

Sir Keir said that while he was director of public prosecutions, from 2008 to 2013, he “tackled that head on because I could see what was happening”.

The Prime Minister said he reopened cases that had been closed and brought the first major prosecution of an “Asian grooming gang” in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

“I changed the whole prosecution approach because I wanted to challenge the myths and stereotypes that were stopping those victims being heard,” he said.

“When I left office, we had the highest number of child sex abuse cases being prosecuted on record.”

Sir Keir said he also called for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, claiming: “The Tories did nothing about that for those 10 long years, including when the Jay Report came out nearly three years ago.”

Professor Alexis Jay, who chaired the seven-year Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which included the Rotherham scandal, has called for the full implementation of her recommendations. Sir Keir said his Government would bring this in.

The Prime Minister then came onto Mr Musk, without referencing him by name.

“Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they’re interested in themselves,” he said.

“Those who are cheerleading Tommy Robinson are not interested in justice, they’re supporting a man who went to prison for nearly collapsing a grooming case, a gang grooming case.

“These are people who are trying to get some vicarious thrill from street violence that people like Tommy Robinson promote.

“Those attacking Jess Phillips, who I am proud to call a colleague and a friend, are not protecting victims.

“Jess Phillips has done 1,000 times more than what they’ve even dreamt about when it comes to protecting victims of sexual abuse throughout her entire career.”

From 2010 to 2015, Ms Phillips, the MP for Birmingham Yardley, managed refuges for domestic abuse victims in the West Midlands.

“When the poison of the far right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others then in my book a line has been crossed,” Sir Keir continued.

“I enjoy the cut and thrust of politics, the robust debate we must have - but that’s got to be based on facts and truth, not on lies, not on those who are so desperate for attention that they’re prepared to debase themselves and their country.”

Sir Keir then appeared to refer to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who has called for a “national inquiry” into grooming gangs.

He added: “What I won’t tolerate is politicians jumping on the bandwagon simply to get attention, when those politicians sat in government for 14 long years tweeting and talking but not doing anything about it, now so desperate for attention that they’re amplifying what the far right has said.

“So this government will get on with the job of protecting victims, including of child sexual abuse, mandatory reporting and accelerating the processes.

“But what I won’t tolerate is this discussion based on lies, without calling it out.”