A majority of Britons do not believe Elon Musk has helped the UK with his online interventions, a new poll has shown.
The CEO of Company X and the world’s richest man has been a constant critic of the Labor government since they won the general election in July.
Last month, he focused on the grooming gang scandal, branding Protection Minister Jess Phillips a “rape genocide apologist” who should be jailed, and criticizing Keir Starmer’s record as Director of Public Prosecutions.
Later, historical child abuse moved higher up the political agenda.
Tory MPs called for another public inquiry into the issue on Wednesday – a move the Prime Minister described as “jumping on the bandwagon” – although that amendment was voted down by the rest of the House of Commons.
According to opinion polls in OpiumMany Britons don’t appreciate Musk’s comments about British politics.
More than half of the participants (53%) said they thought its impact was negative, while only 12% said they thought it was positive.
When it came to Musk’s comments about grooming gangs, 47% said they were “unhelpful” while 26% thought they were helpful.
Opinium’s head of political and social research, Adam Drummond, said the “lack of enthusiasm for a foreign billionaire’s involvement in British politics” is “one area of agreement” in the UK at the moment.
Musk, who was born in South Africa and is now one of Donald Trump’s informal advisers, was rumored to be considering a $100 million donation to the UK Reform Foundation late last year.
He has since called on leader Nigel Farage to step down, saying he is not up to the job, despite the Clacton MP insisting they can repair that relationship.
Musk also described Lib Dem leader Ed Davey as a “whiny obnoxious” and described Starmer as “evil” in recent days.
The Opinium poll, published on Saturday, comes as Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Peter Kyle shot down claims that the Home Office is monitoring Musk’s posts for extremism.
“I’m not aware of that,” he told Sky News on Sunday. My department does not monitor individuals but monitors the Internet itself for misinformation trends and harmful content trends.
“This is not focused on individuals. This is not the business we do. But we try to monitor online trends and adapt accordingly.