SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is throwing his weight behind growing calls in the United Kingdom for a new investigation into the scandal of child abuse by grooming gangs, going so far as to back calls for King Charles III to intervene.
"National inquiry now!" Musk stated on X on Friday, declaring the scandal "the worst mass crime against the people of Britain ever."
The U.K. has for years been dealing with the revelation that a number of grooming gangs, often consisting of men of South Asian or British Pakistani heritage, exploited children for decades across the north of England in cities and towns including Rochdale, Telford, Manchester and Rotherham.
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A 2014 independent review of grooming in Rotherham found that the majority of perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage and said that it was "hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered."
"They were raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten, and intimidated. There were examples of children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone," the report said. "Girls as young as 11 were raped by large numbers of male perpetrators."
That report found that around 1,400 children were abused between 1997 and 2013. It also stressed that abuse "is not confined to the past but continues to this day."
The report found that police gave no priority to the abuse cases and failed to act. It also found that at least one report "was effectively suppressed" and others were ignored by local authorities. It found that while some did not believe the information, others were spooked by political correctness.
"Several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist; others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so," it said.
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A review in Telford found that a high proportion of the cases involved men described as "Asian" or "Pakistani" and that authorities in Telford were concerned that allegations "had the potential to start a ‘race riot.’" A broader Home Office report in 2020 said that while high-profile cases have "mainly involved men of Pakistani ethnicity," it also cited research showing that group-based child sex exploitation offenders are most commonly White.
The scandal was seen by many as a prioritizing of multiculturalism and political correctness over the welfare of British children and the prosecution of criminals.
The issue recently reignited when local politicians in the town of Oldham asked the Home Office in July for a government inquiry into child abuse. A 2022 report into Oldham's actions between 2011 and 2014 found that children were failed by local agencies, but it also found that there was no cover-up despite "legitimate concerns" that the far-right would capitalize on "the high-profile convictions of predominantly Pakistani offenders across the country."
The Manchester Evening News reported Home Office Minister Jess Phillips responded to the request in October, saying that any such inquiry should be organized locally.
"Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation. Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge,’ a Home Office spokesperson told the outlet.
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"We all recognize that terrible mistakes were made in the past, with children ignored or dismissed," they said.
That response was slammed by Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch, who called for a full national inquiry into what she called the "rape gangs scandal."
"The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal," she said on X. "Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots."
"2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice," she said.
Musk, who has been tapped by President-elect Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, also backed calls for King Charles III to intervene-noting that current Prime Minister Keir Starmer was head of the Crown Prosecution Service at the time of the scandals, although the scandals generally involved local authorities.
"Yes," Musk said in response to a post saying the King "must step in."
He continued, "They oppose an inquiry, because it will show that those in power were complicit in the cover-up," he said of the government.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting responded to Musk's comments, telling ITV News that the government takes child abuse "incredibly seriously" and repeating that an inquiry in Oldham should be led locally.
"Some of the criticisms that Elon Musk has made, I think are misjudged and certainly misinformed, but we’re willing to work with Elon Musk, who I think has got a big role to play with his social media platform to help us and other countries to tackle this serious issue," he said. "So if he wants to work with us and roll his sleeves up, we’d welcome that."
Fox News Digital reached out to the British government's Home Office for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
