Starmer condemns Musk's comments as 'dangerous', but says won't sanction him

LONDON: UK PM Keir Starmer on Monday condemned "dangerous" comments by Elon Musk after the X and Tesla owner told an anti-immigration rally that violence is coming to Britain and they must fight or die. But the UK govt resisted opposition calls to sanction Musk for the remarks. Starmer denounced violence on the fringes of Saturday's 1,00,000 or more-strong "Unite the Kingdom" demonstration in London organized by far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson.

Addressing the demonstration, Musk called for the dissolution of Parliament and an early election to remove Starmer's center-left govt. Starmer's spokesman, Dave Pares, said he didn't think "the British public will have any truck with that kind of language. "The UK is a fair, tolerant and decent country, so the last thing that British people want is dangerous and inflammatory language which threatens violence and intimidation on our streets," he said. Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest party in UK Parliament, urged Starmer, Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to join him in condemning Musk's attempt "to sow discord and incite violence " and interfere with UK democracy. Davey urged Starmer to block Tesla from getting govt contracts.



Starmer's spokesman said the govt had no plans to sanction Musk over his comments. Starmer wrote on X that peaceful protest "is core to our country's values. But we will not stand for assaults on police officers doing their job."