No 10 has previously said little about inflammatory claims from Elon Musk but issue likely to dominate questions today after major speech on NHSElon Musk is, if anything, escalating his social media on Labour. In the last few hours, in his feed on X, he has been posting more comments about the child abuse scandal in the UK, adding Gordon Brown to his list of villains, and running a poll on whether “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”. More than 270,000 people have responded, and currently 68% are saying yes.How should a PM respond to this sort of lunacy. In his recent book, On Leadership, the former Labour prime minister Tony Blair offers a reasonable answer. He says:The public reads it, creates it, but also has an innate sense that the description I have just given of it [that a lot of what is on social media is hateful and false] is essentially true. Therefore, they buffet politicians with it, and at the same time want politicians to be strong enough to withstand it and treat it with the respect it deserves – which is often not much.Never underestimate the degree to which people crave leadership. Back to Moses again. The Israelites simultaneously hated and craved his leadership. If you remember, they reached the promised land (though, yes, I know, he didn’t).Our mission is not to call for new inquiries but to advocate for the full implementation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse’s recommendations. A child protection authority is critical to this process.The Conservatives spent years dragging their feet and failing to implement the recommendations in Prof Jay’s report, which they praised for its thoroughness. The hypocrisy of Tory politicians is shameful and disrespects the victims of these vile crimes.Now is the time for action and delivery. This Labour government will act at pace to implement the Jay recommendations to protect young girls from horrific sexual abuse. We will protect women and girls where the Tories failed. Continue reading…
Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/jan/06/uk-politics-keir-starmer-nhs-reforms-grooming-gangs-live-updates
Author : Andrew Sparrow
Publish date : 2025-01-06 09:54:00
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Starmer expected to defend his record on rape gangs in Q&A after health reform speech – UK politics live updates
