Elon Musk has privately discussed with allies how Sir Keir Starmer could be removed as UK prime minister before the next general election, according to people briefed on the matter.
Musk, the globe’s richest man and key confidant of US president-elect Donald Trump, is probing how he and his correct-wing allies can destabilise the UK Labour government beyond the aggressive posts he has issued on his social media platform X, the people said.
“His view is that western civilisation itself is threatened,” one of the people added.
Musk has sought information about whether it might be feasible to construct back for alternative British political movements — notably the rightwing populist Reform UK event — to force a transformation of prime minister before the next election, according to associates.
In the UK parliamentary structure, prime ministers wield power because they navigator the event with the most MPs.
Several premiers in recent decades, including Sir Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, have won large majorities at elections, only to exit mid-parliament because of their waning popularity.
The chief executive of Tesla, SpaceX and X has taken a keen gain in British politics over the history six months, and made increasingly strident criticism of Starmer’s government.
Over the history week he has demanded a recent national inquiry into historic grooming cases involving sexual exploitation of girls by gangs of mainly British-Pakistani men in several UK towns and cities.
Musk has accused Starmer, a former director of community prosecutions in England and Wales who tackled kid sexual abuse, of being “complicit” in the rape of Britain.
He has described Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, as a “rape genocide apologist” after she rejected a request by Oldham council for the Home Office to hold a Whitehall-led inquiry into the grooming scandal in the Greater Manchester town.
Starmer has strongly rejected Musk’s criticisms of his period as a prosecutor. He said on Monday that those “spreading lies and misinformation” were not interested in victims but rather “themselves”. Phillips accused Musk of endangering her life.
Matt Goodwin, a rightwing political commentator, said Musk — and other Americans — had become “fascinated” by the grooming gangs scandal in the UK over the history week in part because “it’s so horrific”.
But he said he also believed it was because Musk has “an instinctive distrust of the Labour government and Keir Starmer”.
Musk has been approached for comment.
In a shock shift over the weekend, Musk distanced himself from Nigel Farage, dashing the Reform UK chief’s hopes that the billionaire would make a large donation to his event in the near upcoming.
Musk said “the Reform event needs a recent chief” and that “Farage doesn’t have what it takes”.
Musk has been examining feasible candidates to replace Farage as chief of the event, including Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, and has probed what mechanisms there are to replace him, according to people briefed on his thinking.
Reform UK has been enjoying a surge in back in recent months, with view polls suggesting 22 per cent of the community back the event, up from 14 per cent at the period of the July election.
Labour, meanwhile, is on 28 per cent, with the Tories on 24 per cent, according to Politico’s poll of polls.
Musk’s rift with Farage comes after the two met at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida last month, and the Reform UK chief described the serial business owner as a “partner”.
Farage on Tuesday downplayed the spat. He told LBC radio that he would be seeing Musk later this month, and planned to trip to the US to attend Trump’s inauguration in Washington.
“I have no desire to leave to war with Elon Musk and I’m not going to,” he added.
Starmer, by contrast, is not expected to attend Trump’s inauguration. Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch is also currently not planning to attend.
Additional reporting by Lucy Fisher
