Elon Musk’s criticism of the UK government has escalated in the wake of the US presidential election and his appointment as Donald Trump’s efficiency tsar, according to new analysis.
In recent days, the controversial tech tycoon has continued to castigate the policies pursued by prime minister Keir Starmer, despite the apparently cordial conversations that have taken place between the UK PM and Trump.
Last week, the US president-elect announced the appointment of Musk to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), following weeks in which the Tesla owner has successfully ingratiated himself with the Republican’s inner circle.
In a statement on Wednesday, Trump said: “Together, these two wonderful Americans [Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy] will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies — essential to the ‘Save America’ movement.”
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Since this statement was published on 13 November, Musk’s criticism of the UK government has surged significantly, according to analysis by Politics.co.uk.
Musk, the richest man in the world, has referenced UK politics or interacted with posts which reference UK politics — with varying degrees of vitriol — twelve times on X, the social media platform he owns, since 13 November.
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It means Musk has averaged two posts a day on UK politics, the overwhelming number of which are either overtly or implicitly critical of Keir Starmer’s premiership. Comparatively, from 5 November (US election day) to 13 November, Musk referenced Britain in one post on electricity prices “in the UK and Europe”.
During the 13 November – 18 November period, Musk said the UK is “going full Stalin”, retweeted a post insisting Britain is “turning into a woke stasi police state” and repeated claims about two-tier justice.
Musk’s views on British politics, and in particular prime minister Keir Starmer, could have considerable ramifications for UK-US diplomacy given his proximity to the president-elect and cultural influence over the wider “MAGA” (Make America Great Again) movement.
During the US presidential election, Musk donated $120 million to Trump’s campaign, held rallies for him in the swing state of Pennsylvania and promoted his campaign’s messages relentlessly on X. In the wake of the US election, Bloomberg reported that Trump referred to Starmer as “very left-wing” and echoed some of Musk’s criticism of the prime minister in conversations with associates in Britain.
Musk’s recent posts came as Lord Mandelson, the former New Labour cabinet minister and key adviser to Tony Blair, insisted Labour should “redouble our efforts” to connect with the tech tycoon because he is too influential to ignore.
Mandelson, who is tipped as the frontrunner to become the UK ambassador to the US, told The News Agents podcast that Musk “was probably wound up and primed by Labour’s political opponents [Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party] to influence the [UK general] election campaign.”
During the summer, Musk repeatedly accused the prime minister of overseeing “two-tier” policing as violence spread across the UK in the wake of a stabbing attack in Southport in which three children were killed.
In September, Musk commented on reports he was not invited to an upcoming investment summit over his incendiary social media posts. “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted pedophiles [sic] in order to imprison people for social media posts”, he wrote on X.
A full timeline of Musk’s posts commenting on UK politics since 13 November can be found below:
- 13 November – Musk responds “Make Orwell Fiction Again!” to post which claims “you can be thrown in prison for 15 years in the UK for simply VIEWING what they deem as propaganda now”.
- 13 November – Musk responds “This needs to stop” to post which says that “in Soviet Britain you get interrogated for posting on social media”.
- 13 November – Musk reposts adoring comment from right-wing activist and former prime minister Liz Truss. Responding to the appointment of Musk as Trump’s efficiency tsar, Truss said: “What is needed in Britain”.
- 14 November – Musk responds “Crazy” to post which claims “Hundreds of British citizens, including journalists, are reporting that they’ve been visited by the police this weekend regarding X posts.”
- 14 November – Musk retweets post which claims “Britain is turning into a woke stasi police state. … Journalists are being interrogated because someone felt ‘offended’ over social media posts on X.”
- 14 November – Musk responds “Crazy” to post which says “A journalist at [the] Telegraph [Allison Pearson] is under investigation by British police for an alleged ‘hate crime’.”
- 14 November – Musk responds “Wow” to post which says “Nigel Farage’s GB News is officially getting more views than both Sky News and BBC News! … People have lost faith in the [mainstream media]!”
- 15 November – Musk responds “This seems messed up” to post that claims “My son, who is 16, will be sentenced on the 3rd of December for the Southport riots”, and goes on to make broader point about two-tier policing.
- 16 November – Musk posts, “They almost succeeded in America and would have done the same thing here if Donald Trump had not won”, in response to tweet again citing the row over Pearson’s treatment by police.
- 16 November – Musk responds “2 tier justice in the UK”, to post claiming the “legal system in the UK is completely corrupt.”
- 17 November – Musk responds “Britain is turning into a police state” to clip of right-wing activist Winston Marshall on Fox News. In it, Marshall claims “[the UK government has] been clearing out the prisons to put in people now for literally Facebook memes”.
- 18 November – Musk responds “Britain is going full Stalin” to post referencing a Guardian column, the title of which reads: “Farmers have hoarded land for too long. Inheritance tax will bring new life to rural Britain”.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.
