Politics

Elon Musk fans desperate to see him meet Angela Rayner as Labour criticism continues

Elon Musk fans desperate to see him meet Angela Rayner as Labour criticism continues

Related video: Elon Musk attacks Sir Keir Starmer over grooming gangs scandal

Various

While many Brits have expressed anger at Elon Musk’s intrusion into UK politics – what with him calling for safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to be “thrown out” of parliament, attacking Sir Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage, and demanding a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation – some supporting the tech entrepreneur have now urged him to meet with Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner.

The deputy prime minister and housing secretary told the PA news agency on Thursday (January 9) that “of course” she would meet with Musk and “challenge him on a factual basis”.

She said: “The language [Musk] uses, in particular around Jess Phillips, was completely wrong and incorrect, and also around the prime minister.

"I think we all have a responsibility to make sure that we work on facts. As politicians, we have to correct the record if we’re incorrect, and I think that there is a responsibility if you’re using your wealth and platform in that way to make sure that all those facts are correct, because otherwise there’s real consequences,” she said.

Although he did not directly reference Musk, Labour prime minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned those spreading “lies and misinformation” around the sensitive issue of investigating child sexual exploitation.

It stems from Musk firing abuse at Phillips after she refused a request from Oldham council for a national inquiry into grooming gangs – one of the most inflammatory tweets being one branding the Birmingham Yardley MP a “rape genocide apologist”.

And with the possibility of Rayner and Musk going head-to-head at some point, Twitter/X users have called for a live event to actually take place between the two – some even going as far as to say it should be a pay-per-view event:

Many paid accounts have warned it would result in “humiliation” for Rayner:

Others, meanwhile, have questioned whether it’s right to give Musk any more oxygen, and wondered whether they too could get their own personal audience with the government:

Then there’s those who were doubtful the pair would meet because Musk is a “keyboard warrior”:

Well, we never did get that cage match between Musk and Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg after all the constant back-and-forth, did we?

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