Kemi Badenoch’s Refusal to Distance Herself From Elon Musk is an Act of Moral Cowardice

Within the last few days alone, billionaire X owner, and close adviser to Donald Trump, Elon Musk has:

• Spread dangerous misinformation about British people being victims of a “rape genocide” by British Pakistanis
• Called for the US to “liberate” the United Kingdom from this “tyranny”
• Demanded the UK’s current Prime Minister be imprisoned for facilitating “child rape”
• Campaigned for a far-right criminal who was convicted of contempt of court to be released from prison
• Demanded another UK Government minister be locked up instead as a “rape genocide apologist”

This is deeply dangerous behaviour, taking place as it does just months after racist riots spread across the UK and within recent memory of a British MP being murdered on the street by a far-right terrorist.

It is therefore obviously vital for all senior UK politicians to publicly condemn such behaviour, and offer their support to those being targeted.

Yet rather than do so, Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch has done the complete opposite.

The Reform UK MPs Already Being Bankrolled by Elon Musk

Nigel Farage is already benefiting financially thanks to the billionaire owner of X

Olly Haynes

Instead, Badenoch and her Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick have repeatedly backed Musk’s demand for a full public inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal, despite being part of a Government that itself repeatedly refused such an inquiry and despite their own government failing to implement the recommendations of thee multiple investigations that did take place.

Not only have they mirrored Musk’s demands, but his rhetoric too.

In a deeply inflammatory statement, posted on Musk’s X platform, Jenrick suggested that rapes by British Pakistanis had been “legalised” by the state, with the crimes being covered up due to “sectarian” voting, following the “importing [of] hundreds of thousands of people from alien cultures”.

It comes after Jenrick declined to respond to multiple requests by Byline Times to confirm or deny reports that he privately messaged his admiration for a prominent far-right X account.

Responding to Jenrick’s latest comments, former Conservative Special Adviser Samuel Kasumu told the BBC that he had become the most divisive politician in the country and warned that his language would put lives at risk.

Yet rather than sack Jenrick, or even marginally distance herself from his comments, Badenoch instead condemned Kasumu for criticising them, and insisted that her party would not shy away from having such “tough conversations” about the grooming scandal.

“We MUST be free to have tough conversations, no matter how difficult that may be to hear,” Badenoch Tweeted.

“We need moral courage, not silencing of debate through personal attacks. This is a classic example of why politicians stop being honest with the public, and the problems have stacked up over decades. The Conservative Party is under new leadership and that means confronting difficult truths.”

Yet the truth is that far from having the “moral courage” to have such “tough conversations”, Badenoch has demonstrated the complete opposite.

Rather than taking the genuinely brave step of criticising Musk for his dangerous and racist misinformation campaign against the country she wishes to lead, Badenoch has instead repeatedly sought to gain his preferment.

Rather than showing the “moral courage” to defend her parliamentary colleagues from Musk’s campaign of lies against them, Badenoch has instead sought to gain politically from it.

And rather than standing up for an already vilified minority of British citizens, under attack by the richest man in the world, Badenoch has instead sought to justify the attacks he is making against them.

By doing so she has gained herself a series of complimentary Tweets from Musk as a result.

None of this shows either courage or morality. It does however, demonstrate her unsuitability for high office.

As Keir Starmer himself commented this morning, when asked about Musk’s attacks on Phillips:

“If you’re not prepared to stand up as a Tory MP and denounce what’s been said about Jess Phillips, who’s now had threats made to her, then you need to seriously consider why you’re in politics in the first place”.

Badenoch’s failure to do so has put her in the unique position of showing even more moral cowardice on the issue than Reform leader Nigel Farage.

Farage, who has himself gone to even greater lengths to gain Musk’s preferment, while echoing his inflammatory comments about grooming gangs, lost the public support of the X owner on Sunday, after refusing to repeat his support of the convicted far-right criminal Tommy Robinson.

Farage’s refusal to back Robinson, appeared to lead to Musk demanding he be replaced as Reform leader.

Yet rather than take this as a sign of quite how extreme Musk’s position now is, Badenoch and her party look intent on taking it as an opportunity to outcompete them for his support.

As she told the BBC before Christmas, when asked about Musk making a potential $100 million donation to Farage’s party, “I believe in competition, so I think that if Elon Musk is giving a party, a competitor party, money, then that is a challenge for me to make sure that I raise the same.”

However, the real “difficult truth” for Badenoch is that the longer she continues to take the side of a far-right bully, over the interests of the vast majority of British people who strongly oppose him, the less likely it will be that they ever opt to put her back into Government.