Elon Musk has stepped up attacks on Britain since the election of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor government, branding it a “police state”.
However, he enjoys warmer relations with former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair, both of whom are among the world’s richest men and currently one of US President-elect Donald Trump’s top aides. I’m trying to strengthen my relationship with a certain guy.
Mr. Johnson recently became acquainted with the Tesla boss through Sriram Krishnan, a London-based venture capitalist who backed Mr. Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter, three people familiar with the matter said. .
Mr. Blair, who praised the entrepreneur as an “extraordinary innovator” in a recent book, met with Mr. Musk and spoke by phone, people familiar with the matter said.
They are the same investors as Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who has backed both Tesla and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. TBI is also working with Musk’s Starlink satellite network on projects in Malawi and Rwanda.
Mr Musk’s deteriorating attitude towards Britain dates back to the aftermath of the mass stabbing of children in Southport in July, which sparked riots across the country.
Dozens of people were arrested over social media posts, some of whom were jailed on charges including inciting racial hatred.
In response, Musk adopted the term “two-tiered keel” to contrast punishments for social media posters with sentences for other criminals.
In August, when Mr Starmer’s did.
Tensions further escalated after Musk was not invited to attend the Global Investment Summit in the UK in October. In response, Musk wrote to X: “I don’t think we should be going to the UK to jail people for what they post on social media when we are freeing convicted pedophiles.” did.
At the time, Starmer’s government had begun releasing some prisoners early because of overcrowding, but sex offenders were excluded.
Mr Musk’s cavalier attitude towards British politics follows interventions around the world, from defending Argentina’s populist leader Javier Millei to criticizing the liberal leadership of countries such as Germany, Brazil and Australia.
But his attacks on Britain have become particularly frequent and outspoken, extending far beyond technology and free speech. He accused Mr Starmer’s move to impose inheritance tax on some farms as “total Stalinization”.
Starmer’s government, which has little connection to Mr Musk, was caught by surprise. Labour’s Sir Peter Mandelson last week told British leaders to “swallow their pride” and engage with fellow Tesla and X leaders.
Mandelson’s advice includes using Musk’s British “friends” to build relationships and describing British reform leader Nigel Farage as a “beachhead” for both Trump and Musk. It included things to do.
Farage told the FT that Trump introduced him to Musk before the US election and that the entrepreneur had “incredible knowledge” about the UK “including about farmers and inheritance tax”.
He told the YouTube podcast “The Winston Marshall Show” that Musk explained his interest in Britain by saying, “You’re the homeland of the entire English-speaking world, and that’s really important.”
A year ago, Musk was hailed by then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a “great innovator” when they shared the stage at London’s luxurious Lancaster House to close the UK government’s global AI safety summit. It was praised.
Mr. Sunak, a self-described “tech geek,” texted Mr. Musk directly and invited him, but ended up “ghosting” him for several weeks, according to people briefed on the encounter.
Mr. Musk ultimately agreed and pitched the idea of establishing an AI talent hub in Britain to the then-prime minister, according to two people familiar with the discussions. A source close to Mr Sunak said the two have remained in touch and Mr Musk later described Mr Sunak in X as an “asset to Britain”.
He has also previously had kind words for another British prime minister, citing family ties that may help explain his enduring interest in Britain. “I’ve always admired Margaret Thatcher,” he wrote in 2013. Nana in English. ”
During Johnson’s tenure as prime minister, Musk developed a relationship with the prime minister’s maverick adviser Dominic Cummings, according to people briefed on the matter. An ally of Mr Cummings said the two bonded over shared views on “man, ideas and machines” rather than politics.
Some of the ideas underlying Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory body co-chaired by President-elect Trump, mirror those proposed by Mr. Cummings in 2020.
While Cummings was looking for people with “extraordinary academic ability,” “weirdos and sociopaths” and people willing to do “difficult but fun” work, Musk is currently looking for “more than 80 hours of work.” We are looking to hire “small government revolutionaries with super high IQs who are willing to work.” A week of modest cost reduction. ”
Mr. Cummings made seven posts on X last month that mentioned Mr. Musk, and in some of the posts he mentioned how liberals underestimated Mr. Musk’s genius, and made comments about British policy. and joined Musk in criticizing the free speech movement.
Silicon Valley allies and Trump supporters such as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen have taken up the same cause, reacting to a post this week that said 3,300 Brits had been detained by British police for “online trolling”. This is an excerpt from a 2017 Times article. The article has the caption: “They will welcome us as liberators.”
Sean Maguire, a partner at the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, reposted a video made by far-right provocateur Tommy Robinson, calling it “the institutional rot entrenched in Western societies and the moral rot of socialists.” Anyone who doubts needs to see this.”
“Why has he been in prison for 18 months?” Musk wrote over the weekend while retweeting a post from Robinson’s account about his latest prison sentence. Robinson was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October after pleading guilty to contempt of court for repeatedly making false claims against Syrian refugees.
The billionaire told colleagues he feared he would be arrested if he traveled to Britain, according to a person with direct knowledge of the conversation.
One person who has worked closely with Mr. Musk said that Mr. Musk responded to “literally whatever the Twittersphere was telling him at that moment,” adding, “There are a lot of British people in We speak the same language,” he added.
“Musk has been radicalized by his platform,” a British tech lobbyist said, referring to the X algorithm that feeds Musk content about British politics. “I don’t want to underestimate how detrimental trolling is to his right-wing brethren in the ‘manosphere’ where he currently resides.”
Some argue that Musk’s backlash stems from his business interests. Britain’s landmark online safety law, due to fully come into force next year, will require X and other social media groups to remove content deemed to incite violence or racial hatred.
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“His free speech campaign in the UK is 100 percent about retaliation against the regulator’s perceived threat to Company X,” said a person who has worked closely with Mr. Musk. X is currently recruiting for a Regulatory Legal Advisor in London or Dublin.
Some British policymakers have expressed concerns that Mr. Musk could complicate Labor’s efforts to build a relationship with the new U.S. president and tighten tech regulation. “He’s too important to ignore,” said a senior member of Musk’s Labor Party. “We’re going to have to work with him, at least until everything breaks down between him and Mr. Trump.”
Farage sees things more positively. Asked whether he expected Reform UK to support him in the next UK election campaign, he said: “Will Trump and Elon support me for 2029? Well, that’s what friends are, right?”
Additional reporting from Beijing by Eleanor Alcott
