Elon Musk has asked whether the U.S. should “liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government” as the tech billionaire intervened in U.K. politics again.

In recent months, the key adviser to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly posted attacks on social media of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his center-left Labour Party, which was elected in July.

Most recently, the South African-born U.S. businessman has focused on child sexual abuse and the U.K. government’s handling of investigations into organized gangs that allegedly oversaw the systematic rape of young women.

The Tesla CEO has also pushed the “two-tier policing” conspiracy theory, claiming British officials treat pro-Palestinian or Black Lives Matter demonstrators more leniently than far-right protesters.

Musk’s fascination with the U.K. was reportedly set to extend to making a substantial donation to Reform U.K., the growing right-wing party. But that now looks in doubt after Musk on Sunday said leader Nigel Farage “doesn’t have what it takes.”

His interest in British politics continued Monday, when he posted an online poll on his X social media site that posed the proposition: “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.”

In his attacks on the U.K. government, Musk has called for the jailing of Jess Phillips, a junior government minister responsible for combating violence against women and girls. He called her a “rape genocide apologist.”

That comment came after Phillips reportedly rejected calls for a public inquiry into historic child abuse in the northern English town of Oldham and said such a decision was up to the local authorities.

Musk also has criticized Starmer for failing to bring perpetrators to justice when he was England’s director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013.

The previous Conservative government held an inquiry into historic child sex abuse cases, though many of the recommendations it made in 2022 have yet to be implemented.

Musk’s fallout with Farage — the political leader had described Musk as “a hero” — stems from the Reform U.K. leader distancing himself from jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson. Musk has said Robinson should be released from prison.

On Monday, Starmer responded to Musk’s attacks, condemning “those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible.”

The prime minister defended his record as chief prosecutor, saying he had reopened closed cases and “changed the whole prosecution approach” to child sexual exploitation.

He also slammed the language used by Musk about Phillips. “When the poison of the far-right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others, then in my book, a line has been crossed,” Starmer said.

The billionaire’s remarks on Britain underline his increased interest in politics across the world after helping bankroll Trump’s imminent return to the White House. Musk has also weighed in on German politics recently by endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he’s staying “cool” against critical personal comments made by Elon Musk but finds it worrying that the U.S. billionaire makes the effort to get involved in a general election by endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Scholz was reacting after Musk, a close ally to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, called the chancellor a “fool” after his coalition government collapsed in November and later backed the AfD in an opinion piece he wrote for a major newspaper in Germany.

Scholz, head of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), said in comments published Saturday by the German magazine Stern that there is “nothing new” in criticism by “rich media entrepreneurs who do not appreciate social democratic politics and do not hold back with their opinions.”

“You have to stay cool,” Scholz told Stern.

“I find it much more worrying than such insults that Musk is supporting a party like the AfD, which is in parts right-wing extremist, which preaches rapprochement with Putin’s Russia and wants to weaken transatlantic relations,” Scholz said.

The AfD is monitored by Germany’s domestic intelligence service on suspicion of being right-wing extremist and has already been recognized as such in some individual German states.

Germany will hold an early parliamentary electionon Feb. 23 after Scholz’s thee-party coalition collapsed in November in a dispute over how to revitalize the country’s stagnant economy.

The vice chancellor and economy minister, Robert Habeck, also warned Musk against getting involved in Germany’s politics.

“Hands off our democracy, Mr. Musk!” Habeck said in an interview with the Spiegel magazine.

“The combination of enormous wealth, control over information and networks, the use of artificial intelligence and the willingness to ignore rules is a frontal attack on our democracy,” said Habeck, the Green Party’s candidate for chancellor.

Musk recently caused uproar after backing the AfD in an opinion piece for the Welt am Sonntag, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, in protest.

“The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated commentary.

The Tesla Motors CEO also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country’s condition.

The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party.

BERLIN (AP) — Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest.

Germany is to vote in an early election on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalize the country’s stagnant economy.

Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag —a sister publication of POLITICO owned by the Axel Springer Group — published in German over the weekend, was the second time this month he supported the Alternative for Germany, or AfD.

“The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated commentary.

He went on to say the far-right party “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality.”

The Tesla Motors CEO also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country’s condition.

The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party.

An ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, the technology billionaire challenged in his opinion piece the party’s public image.

“The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!”

Musk’s commentary has led to a debate in German media over the boundaries of free speech, with the paper’s own opinion editor announcing her resignation, pointedly on Musk’s social media platform, X.

“I always enjoyed leading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print,” Eva Marie Kogel wrote.

A critical article by the future editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Jan Philipp Burgard, accompanied Musk’s opinion piece.

“Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong,” Burgard wrote.

Responding to a request for comment from the German Press Agency, dpa, the current editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Ulf Poschardt, and Burgard — who is due to take over on Jan. 1 — said in a joint statement that the discussion over Musk’s piece was “very insightful. Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression.”

“This will continue to determine the compass of the “world” in the future. We will develop “Die Welt” even more decisively as a forum for such debates,” they wrote to dpa.