London
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Billionaire Elon Musk said on Saturday that Britain needed a “revolutionary government change” and was effectively speaking in London’s far-right anti-immigration protests.
Comments from the world’s wealthiest man, a former adviser to Donald Trump, came just days before the US president’s upcoming state visit to the UK, four years away from the upcoming general election.
“The UK needs a massive government reform and people need to be in charge. It’s not a bureaucracy that doesn’t bother you,” Musk said in a Q&A with far-right political activist Tommy Robinson, who is the real name of Larry, Stephen Yaxley Lennon.
“We have to need a revolutionary government change… This really requires everyone to marshall the people, get in charge of government, reform and make sure people have government for the people, for the people,” the billionaire said.
Musk has been walking into British politics for a while. During the wave of violent anti-immigrant riots in the UK last summer, Tesla’s chief executive and owner of X said “civil wars are inevitable.”
In January he said British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer should be in prison when he administered a long-standing scandal over historic child sexual abuse in parts of the UK.
For a while, Musk formed an alliance with Nigel Farage, the leader of the Populist Reform UK. But the friendship fell apart earlier this year when Farage refused to support Musk against Robinson, the founder of the current Abolition Anti-Immigrant English Defense League (EDL), who had been previously imprisoned for repeatedly imprisoning false accusations about Syrian refugees.
In another inflammatory statement on Saturday, Musk told the crowd via a live stream on the big screen, “Violence is coming to you. You’ll fight back or die.”
He also referenced the murder of American political activist Charlie Kirk in the United States on Wednesday, saying “people on the left” were “openly” celebrating his death.
“The left is the party of murder and murder blessings,” Musk said.
British business secretary Peter Kyle called Musk’s speech “slightly incomprehensible” and “completely inappropriate.” In an interview with the BBC on Sunday.
However, Kyle added that police said the Robinson protest — attracting between 110,000 and 150,000 demonstrators — showed that powerful people need to address the “big concerns” the public has, including immigrants.
“I think these are moments that call us in public life to double our efforts to address the huge concerns people across our nation have,” Kyle said. He also said the demonstration proved that freedom of speech was “living in this country.”
London Metropolitan Police said 24 people were arrested, but 26 police officers were injured in the far-right protest on Saturday. The injuries included a broken teeth, a possible nose fracture, a concussion, extended disc and head injuries, the unit said in a statement Saturday night.
