X owner politicising girls' abuse, says woman who exposed grooming ring

Elon Musk has "politicised" the rape of young girls in Britain in an attempt to attack Keir Starmer, a former health worker who exposed a major paedophile ring, has told the Guardian.

- Rajeev Syal

Sara Rowbotham, who gathered evidence that led to the imprisonment of nine men in Rochdale, said the tech billionaire had launched a "political swipe" at the prime minister that overlooks the plight of abuse survivors.

The X owner, who will have a role in Donald Trump's incoming administration, yesterday called on King Charles to dissolve parliament after Labour rejected a call for a national inquiry into child grooming.

Musk triggered the row on Thursday over Starmer's alleged handling of child abuse in Oldham after he suggested the prime minister had failed to bring "rape gangs" to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.

Rowbotham, who made hundreds of referrals detailing the abuse and sexual grooming while working for the NHS in Rochdale between 2005 and 2011, said: "What is his [Musk's] motivation for interfering? It seems very political. The person he is trying to go after is Keir Starmer - it is a political swipe that is nothing to do with the women and girls who have been abused time after time."