British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hit back at Elon Musk on Monday after days of inflammatory social media posts by Mr Musk, the billionaire owner of X, indirectly accusing him and others of “spreading lies and misinformation” about victims of child sex abuse gangs.

“Those who spread lies and misinformation, as far and wide as possible, are not interested in the victims,” ​​said Mr. Starmer to reporters at an event south of London dedicated to overhauling the National Health Service. “They are interested in themselves.”

Mr Starmer also defended himself against accusations by Mr Musk that he did not act quickly enough against gangs who abused and exploited young girls while he was the head of the Attorney General’s Office. Estimated 1,400 girls exploited in northern town of Rotherham by ‘grooming gang’ made up mainly of British Pakistani men in cases dating back to before 2010. Similar gangs were also found to be operating in other towns and cities in England, including Oldham and Telford.

The prime minister pointed out that, while he was the director of the National Prosecutor’s Office, between 2008 and 2013, his office opened the first case against an Asian group of suitors and drew up new guidelines for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse crimes. He tackled the scandal “head on,” he said.

“There is nothing secret about being the director of public prosecution,” said Mr. Starmer. “Every case I’ve brought has gone to court and been reviewed by a judge.”

Mr. Musk has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Mr. Starmer covered up the abuses. He also claimed that Jess Phillips, the Labor government’s under-secretary for protection and violence against women and girls, was a “rape genocide apologist” for rejecting calls for a national inquiry into the sexual exploitation of children in Oldham, a town near Manchester.

Ms Phillips, a long-time campaigner for women’s rights, instead called for a local inquiry to be led by Oldham local authority rather than central government.

Mr Starmer has been unflinching in his defense of Ms Phillips. “Those attacking Jess Phillips are not protecting the victims,” ​​he said. “Jess Phillips has done a thousand times more than they ever dreamed of when it comes to protecting victims of sexual abuse.”

The online accusations “crossed the line”, Mr Starmer said, adding: “Once we lose the anchor that the truth is important, in the robust debate we have to have, then we are on a very slippery slope.”

While Mr Starmer’s tone was robust, he avoided commenting on Mr Musk’s wider motives for attacking Britain. Mr. Musk is a close ally of President-elect Donald J. Trump, with whom Mr. Starmer tried nurture relationships.

Instead, the prime minister criticized British politicians, including Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, for wanting to exploit the divisions created by Mr Musk’s posts.

Mrs. Badenoch on Thursday called for a national public inquiry into what she called the “gang-rape scandal”. That was already a topic local and national inquiries which dates from the year 2014 ia national investigation into the broader problem of sexual abuse of children, he concluded in 2022 after 325 days of public hearings.

“When politicians – and I mean politicians who have been in government for many years – are careless about honesty, decency, truth and the rule of law,” said Mr. Starmer, “they are calling for investigations because they want to jump on the far-right bandwagon, it affects politics, because a strong debate can only be based on true facts.”

Earlier on Monday morning Mr. In one X post, Musk wrote “Jail for Starmer,” and in another, pinned to the top of his profile, he called out to his 210 million followers. vote on the statement: “America should free the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.”