Wes Streeting has responded to Elon Musks’ criticism of the government’s handling of child grooming gangs, by calling him “ill-informed” and inviting him to join their efforts in tackling child abuse.
Streeting has a Christian faith. He told Premier: “Fundamentally, I'm a Christian. I believe in God, and I subscribe to the fundamental tenets of our faith.”
His response to Elon Musk comes after the billionaire’s latest incursion into British politics, having overlapped with Nigel Farage as part of Donald Trump’s election campaign, and met with Rishi Sunak whilst he was Prime Minister in 2023.
On his social media platform X, Musk declared that Jess Phillips MP, who holds a safeguarding role within parliament, “deserves to be in prison” for denying a second national inquiry into abuse by Oldham grooming gangs.
Phillips said a local council inquiry would be sufficient, given that a national inquiry has already taken place under the previous government.
Speaking to BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Streeting branded the comments a “disgraceful smear”.
This Friday, Streeting visited a care home in Carlisle, where he insisted Labour was getting "on with the job" of implementing the recommendations from the initial independent inquiry into the gangs, led by Professor Alexis Jay.
He called on Musk to stop critiquing from the sidelines, saying: "Some of the criticisms Elon Musk has made I think are misjudged and certainly misinformed.
"But we're willing to work with Elon Musk, who I think has got a big role to play with his social media platform to help us and other countries tackle these serious issues.
"If he wants to work with us and roll his sleeves up, we'd welcome that."