Keir Starmer accuses Elon Musk of interfering in British politics

LONDON — Keir Starmer accused Elon Musk of interfering in British politics Thursday after the owner of the X social media platform posted a flurry of comments about the murder of a British teenager.

Musk, a long-standing critic of the U.K.’s prime minister, has published more than 100 posts, replies and retweets about British politics since May 27.

Many of those have focused on the murder of Henry Nowak — an 18-year-old man killed in the southern England city of Southampton last December. Camera footage shows police officers handcuffed Nowak after his murderer falsely accused the teenager of racism.

Asked about Musk’s posts — which include a claim that police “cravenly kowtowed” to Nowak’s murderer — Starmer said: “We need to also assert who we are as a country, because Musk, again, has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division, that is not who we are in Britain.

“In Britain, we are reasonable, tolerant people. When we have a terrible case like Henry’s case, Henry Nowak, we react calmly, as his family have done.”

Starmer said lessons should be learned from Nowak’s murder, and has not ruled out supporting a misconduct investigation against the officers involved.

“There may need to be changes and we shouldn’t shy away from that, not for one moment,” he said.

Starmer is due to meet Nowak’s family on Thursday afternoon.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who met Nowak’s mother, father and stepmother on Thursday morning, said in a post on X she had promised to “work to ensure there is a positive legacy for Henry out of this tragedy.”

Nigel Farage has been criticized for urging the public to respond to Nowak’s death with “pure, cold rage.” Rioting took place in Southampton against officers Tuesday evening, with two people arrested and 11 officers injured.