'I think his comments are pretty deplorable'
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) August 6, 2024
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander spoke to #BBCBreakfast after Elon Musk said in a post on X that "civil war is inevitable" after the violent disorder and riots in parts of England and Northern Irelandhttps://t.co/tMU2CAW7BEpic.twitter.com/NVfIKvx4vU
A minister has re-ignited the government’s war of words with Elon Musk as she condemned his “deplorable” comments about the far-right riots.
The X boss was condemned by Keir Starmer yesterday after he said “civil war is inevitable” in the UK.
A spokesman for the prime minister said: “There’s no justification for comments like that and what we’ve seen in this country is organised illegal thuggery which has no place on our streets or online.”
Musk then hit back at Starmer’s claim that the government “will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities”, saying: “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on all communities?”
On BBC Breakfast this morning, justice minister Heidi Alexander said: ”I think Elon Musk’s comments are totally unjustifiable. I think at the moment everybody should be calling for calm.
“He does have a responsibility, given this huge platform that he has, and so to be honest I think his comments are pretty deplorable.”
However, she also conceded that there was little the government can do to silence the multi-billionaire tech boss.
She said: “I’m not pretending this is easy. Technology evolves almost by the day and so we will need to make sure our wider legislative framework is updated.”
