Now, Elon Musk is trying to upend British politics

It appears that Elon Musk has conquered Britain, if only via a tweet. This week, the right-wing American billionaire caused chaos by launching a tweetstorm against Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labor Party and the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Musk has supported Starmer since his election, and this week, he took matters seriously when he used his X platform to urge King Charles to dissolve the British Parliament and oust the new prime minister.

Overall, Musk tried to portray Starmer’s government as a corrupt and incompetent regime that is hurting Britain. To culminate these messaging efforts, Musk I reposted a message This week from one commentator this week: “Who else believes that the king should dissolve parliament and order general elections for the good and security of the country? The king must act before it is too late! Musk responded to the user’s post by saying only: “Yes.”

And that’s not all Musk did. The American billionaire also seized on a scandal related to… Street gangs take care of children He used the episode to accuse Starmer of failing to hold child rapists accountable in his country. Starmer’s claim was “Complicit in the rape of Britain.” The scandal in question relates to the phenomenon of “grooming gangs” in northern England, which are said to be largely composed of sexual exploitation offenders. South Asian or British Pakistani heritage. Musk was next On charges of “politicizing” the rape of young girls As a means to advance his right-wing agenda.

Meanwhile, Musk declared his support for Tommy Robinson, a far-right political activist and convicted fraudster with a violent criminal record who is currently serving a prison sentence. Robinson, whose given name was Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was He is called an “anti-Islam” activist. He was accused of Islamophobia. “Release Tommy Robinson!” Spread the musk. Robinson/Lennon is the founder of the English Defense League, a now-defunct lobbying organisation Against Islamic extremism. Musk caused so much trouble that Trump’s conservative political allies had to distance themselves from the comments. actually, Bloomberg reports “Senior politicians on the British right” contacted “allies of Donald Trump and urged the US President-elect’s team not to support the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson.”

Why is Musk treating Starmer so poorly? No one knows for sure, though it’s hard not to see this as a broader effort to make the incoming Liberal government look bad so that a different (presumably Conservative) government can soon take its place. However, Musk does not appear to be the first wealthy American governor to mess with UK politics. In fact, the relationship between American billionaires and efforts to reshape Britain In a right-wing dystopia, he has been entrenched for some time.

US-led campaign to make Britain more right-wing

One reason Musk and his group may be so fearful about Starmer is that he is the first British prime minister in years who has no political affiliations with the American right. Most prominent among them is Boris Johnson, who served as Prime Minister between 2019 and 2022 Bask with People supporting Trump called himself a libertarian, and his policies were just that In large form By the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a think tank that is part of a global libertarian network known as Atlas. Although founded by a British citizen, the Atlas Network is based in the United States and has affiliations with a variety of American organizations, including the Heritage Foundation and ALEC (the pro-corporate American Legislative Exchange Council). Before its rise to become Britain Shortest serving Prime Ministermet the infamous Liz Truss A number of right-wingers in the United States Think tanks, including Heritage, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and ALEC. Later, when she became Prime Minister, much of Truss’s economic policy agenda was taken up It has also been developed to a great extent By the International Energy Agency. When Truss tried to solve Britain’s problems with… Huge tax cuts for billionaires (significantly Trumpian solution)It was fast Laughter from the government He resigned suddenly. Since resigning as Prime Minister, Truss has done little except Out fan of Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak, the caretaker prime minister who served between Truss and Starmer, also enjoyed it Intense relations with America And I tried it Spreading liberal “free market” policieswhich was for the most part very unpopular.

Musk’s advertising role

Efforts to turn Western countries into conservative bastions have been reinforced by propaganda efforts designed to undermine confidence in liberal governments. It is worth noting that at the same time as Musk sought to publicly attack Starmer’s Liberal government, he also increasingly aligned himself with many of the organizations and forces that supported Britain’s cultural and economic drift to the right.

I Recently written That Musk is essentially the new Steve Bannon, which means that Musk — like Bannon before him — helped Trump win the election by serving as a messaging guru who can incite political support by tapping into voters’ cultural and economic grievances. And Bannon, who helped Trump get elected in 2016, as well Credit By helping to bring American-style nationalism into British political culture. Bannon also notably supported Tommy Robinson long before Musk started tweeting about him. Since 2018, Bannon has been publicly praising the right-wing agitator. In a leaked audio recording, Bannon screamed loudly“Tommy Robinson is the backbone of this country. If you lose people like Tommy Robinson, you don’t have a country.” In February of last year, Bannon appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland (along with Liz Truss) and He called Robinson a “hero.”

But what Bannon did in a relatively quiet way, Musk does in broad daylight. Through his platform Before his pro-Robinson tweets and comments about dissolving parliament and rape in the streets, Musk also used his platform to comment on… Stabbing ring Which led to riots across Britain. Musk’s comments even helped The riots worsened. Musk also recently He called for new elections So Starmer can be voted out of office.

So, while it may be happening on a different continent, Musk’s advertising efforts in the UK appear similar to those he’s carrying out in the US. These efforts can also only be seen as a continuation of a broader effort by the United States. The American political right uses racial and economic injustices as a means to radicalize lower- and middle-class populations and steer them toward economic agendas designed by and for the wealthy. However, this program may work much better in the United States than in Britain, where the average IQ may be slightly higher.