Musk and Trump Put Starmer and British Establishment in Crisis

The British establishment is in crisis and maybe looking to replace Keir Starmer after Elon Musk with the tacit support of Donald Trump called openly for his removal and the “liberation of Britain” from the Labour Party and Starmer. This is after Musk ignited the issue of the far right by amplifying the issue of sexual grooming by male gangs from Pakistani origin throughout the country.

The ferocity of the attack from Trump and Musk has rattled the British establishment, which is now seeking to preserve its critical American relationship in order to prevent further political and economic decline and Britain’s potential removal from any influence on the world stage.

In order to achieve this there is a likelihood of sacrificing Keir Starmer and riding through the aggressive Trump presidency by using the establishment Party, that of the Conservatives, and leadership of the Reform Party to blunt America’s aggressive moves.

Musk accused Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions in England and Wales who tackled child sexual abuse, of being “complicit” in the rape of Britain. Musk 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.

After some hesitancy, Starmer strongly reacted to Musk’s criticisms of his time as a prosecutor stating in reference to Musk that those “spreading lies and misinformation” were not interested in victims but rather “themselves” (FT 09/01/25), and that Musk had “crossed the line” with respect to interference and protocol.

Musk’s attacks and intervention in British internal affairs and his open call for Starmer’s removal breaks all political protocol and hides the real reason for Musk’s attack, which is to play havoc with Europe’s internal far right vulnerabilities, divide it, weaken it by agitating German militarism. Central to this is approach is the process shaking off the British leech which has worked to weaken America at every juncture, whilst at the same time band-wagoning on her back to preserve power and her global influence under the one sided notion of a “special relationship”.

Consequently, the establishment thinking on the possibility of replacing Starmer was leaked deliberately through the UK Financial Times (FT) on 9/01/2025 in order to test Trump and Musk’s response, as well as a clear message to Starmer that he needs to demonstrate how he is going to manage the political fallout ,and preserve the criticality of UK’s policy with regards to America. According to the FT, “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 has sought information about whether it might be possible to build support for alternative British political movements — notably the rightwing populist Reform UK party — to force a change of prime minister before the next election, according to associates.”

The ferocity of the attack by Musk on Keir Starmer and the call for his removal by Musk has left the British establishment with very little manoeuvrability but to create the conditions through the media in order to constitute public opinion against Starmer and force him to stand down. Hence why, the FT eluded to such a precedent in British politics where popularly elected Prime Ministers had stepped down stating, “Several prime ministers in recent decades, including Sir Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, have won big majorities at elections, only to exit mid-parliament because of their waning popularity” (09/01/2025). The establishment and the media already seem to have moved on this by weakening the credibility of Starmer amongst the public by agitating their emotions and providing channels for the them to express their anger on Starmer’s leaders, especially on economic and social policies.

Further evidence of the establishments move to potentially replace Starmer was when the Conservative party was positioned to move into the fray by distancing itself from Starmer through accommodating Musk’s interventions and calling for an enquiry on the sexual grooming issue. This led to a ferocious retort from Starmer on X, saying, “If you’re not prepared to stand up, as a Tory MP, & denounce what’s been said about Jess Phillips… then you seriously need to consider why you’re in politics in the 1st place” (08/01/25)

With respect to Nigel Farage, the British establishment planted him near to Trump in order to maintain closeness to him and entrap Musk by involving him in the right wing Reform Party so that he would be monitored and contained. Hence, why despite it being a clear interference in British politics, the establishment has not moved to prevent Musk from potentially putting $100m to finance the Reform Party.

However, Musk and Trump seem to be aware of Farage’s insertion by the British establishment and have reacted by calling for his replacement after Farage refused to endorse Musk’s positive comments towards jailed right wing leader of the banned English Defence League. After a meeting with Farage at Trumps Mar-ga-low residence in Florida, Musk tweeted on X, “the Reform party needs a new leader” and that “Farage doesn’t have what it takes” (08/01/25). As the need for the British establishment to ingratiate Musk is vital, it is likely to also move for the replacement of Farage and accommodate Musk.

The American policy to weaken Britain is not new as not only has she systematically removed Britain from her former colonies in the Middle East, Africa and Asia post World War 2, but also interfered in her domestic issues, especially the British Achilles heel of Irish nationalism through support for Irish Independence and the Irish Republican Army (IRA), as well as that of Scottish independence, both of which Britain was able to neutralise under Tony Blair, first by using the cover of former US President Bill Clinton and his envoy Mitchell to become invested in the Irish Good Friday Agreement and devolution, and Scotland also through devolution and economic carrots to the people such as free medical prescriptions and university education. However, under Trump, the American policy against Britain has gone public.

Trump took aim at Britain during his first term as President when he refused to give them a free trade deal, after deceptively encouraging her to leave the European Union and BREXIT. With many of the political class from both the Labour and Conservatives having openly attacked and ridiculed Trump during his first term, with the understanding that Trump would not win a second election, Trump, known for his revenge, has made it a personal issue as well.

In October 2024, Trump filed a legal complaint requesting an immediate investigation into “blatant foreign interference” on the part of British officials in the US election campaign, days before the election on November 5 2024. In a letter sent to the US Federal Election Commission (FEC), Trump’s campaign lawyer Gary Lawkowski accused the UK’s ruling Labour Party of sending senior advisers and officials to US battleground states in support of his Democratic Party rival Kamala Harris. The complaint stated, “To protect our democracy from illegal foreign influence, it is imperative that the Federal Election Commission … investigate this matter immediately,”.

Then in December 2024, Starmer appointed veteran Labour peer Lord Mandelson as British ambassador to Washington. Madelson had previously described Trump as a “danger to the world” and ‘little short of a white nationalist”, leading to Trumps most senior campaign advisor Chris LaCivita to criticise Starmer’s decision saying it was replacing a “professional universally respected ambo [ambassador] with an absolute moron” (BBC 20/12/24).

This led to a call for damage control by a senior Conservative Party member Sir Iain Duncan Smith who challenged the decision and called for an investigation to scrutinise Lord Mandelson’s appointment, his background and “whether or not this is reliable or anyway likely to cause offence in the United States” and stating that “He’s not a diplomatic appointee, he’s a political appointee and political appointees often carry baggage, particularly if they’ve been out of parliament and out of government for some time” (BBC 20/12/2024)

As a result of the nature of the attack by Musk and Trump, there has been a clear realisation by the British establishment, that the relationship with America is changing and a readjustment in its approach has become a necessity, and that America’s attention is shifting towards its other interests in Europe, making Britain relatively less important. This was clearly articulated by Lord Mandelson in a BBC interview in November 2024 by arguing for a “a new relationship rather than a special one” with the US.