Elon Musk has hit back at the UK government after he was not invited to an international investment summit following his controversial social media posts during last month’s riots.
Musk said in X on Thursday: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they release convicted pedophiles to jail people for social media posts.”
He appeared to be referring to the early release scheme from prisons, launched by the Labor government to ease pressure on a system which it has said is “on the verge of collapsing” due to a lack of capacity.
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Ministers initially said the early release scheme would not apply to the most serious offenders, but later confirmed that prisoners who had served a sentence for a serious offense and were serving a consecutive sentence for a lesser one would qualify. But sex offenders are excluded from the early release program.
Musk’s latest salvo came after it emerged that he is not invited to a global investment summit in Britain on October 14. The government hopes the event will provide a boost to investment in the UK two weeks before the autumn budget. Government sources confirmed that Musk was not invited.
Musk took center stage in November last year at a UK summit on AI, where then-Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak played the role of talk show host and complimented the businessman during a 40-minute in-person conversation. minutes.
However, Musk’s attitude towards the UK has changed since then, as he has moved increasingly to the right in the US. He has become a supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
In August, Musk shared a fake Telegraph article claiming Keir Starmer was considering sending far-right rioters to “emergency detention camps” in the Falklands. Musk deleted his post after around 30 minutes, but a screenshot captured by politics.co.uk suggested it had garnered almost 2 million views before being deleted.
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In the post, Musk shared the image posted by Ashlea Simon, co-leader of the far-right group Britain First, which he captioned: “We’re all being deported to the Falklands.”
Musk was responding Thursday to a tweet from Mario Nawfal, a self-described “founder and investor,” who has emerged as a potential influencer on X since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. Citing the BBC as a source, Nawfal tweeted: “UK snubs Elon because he criticized oppression of free speech.”
Business leaders have said plans for the summit risk falling apart, amid growing frustrations over the high cost of participation and the timing before the budget.
Several business leaders at the Labor Party’s annual conference in Liverpool said the event risked not living up to its high profile because it would take place while ministers were still debating the details of several major economic decisions ahead of the 30 budget. . October.
