Krishnan Guru-Murthy wades into Elon Musk and Keir Starmer riots row as he calls out 'civil war' claims

Krishnan Guru-Murthy has waded into the row between Elon Musk and Keir Starmer

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Alex Davies

By Alex Davies


Published: 07/08/2024

- 09:58

The billionaire X owner has waged a war of words with the Prime Minister over his response to the riots

BBC Strictly Come Dancing star and Channel 4 newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy has hit out at Elon Musk as he continues to share his thoughts on the unrest in Britain.

The billionaire businessman has hit headlines in recent days after claiming "civil war is inevitable" in the UK following the violent scenes in towns and cities across the country.


The demonstrations and riots were sparked in response to misinformation spread on social media - including Musk's X - regarding the identity of the man charged with the murder of three young girls in Southport.

Mobs have targeted mosques and hotels harbouring asylum seekers using petrol bombs while thugs have also clashed with the police in violent scenes.

With over 420 arrests made so far, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to implement the toughest justice possible on those rioting, including a "standing army".

On Monday, Starmer shared a video on X in which he claimed: "This is not protest, it is pure violence. We will have a standing army of public duty officers.

Sunderland riots

Riots have been happening all over the country, including Sunderland

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"We will ramp up criminal justice. We will apply criminal law online as well as offline. We will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities."

Musk then engaged with the post by replying: "Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?"

Since then, Musk has continued to react to posts about the riots that have been shared on the social media sites, branding the PM as "#TwoTierKeir".

On Tuesday, Guru-Murthy decided to wade into the public row between Starmer and Musk, urging the Tesla CEO to join him for a debate.

Guru-Murthy called out Musk as he penned: "Do you want to do an interview about this?

"You are causing a lot of waves here in Britain at a very dangerous time. Anytime, anywhere. On @Channel4News and @X live."

Musk hasn't replied to Guru-Murthy's offer publicly but Downing Street has issued a statement regarding the billionaire's remarks about "civil war".

Starmer's official spokesman said on Monday: "There's no there's no justification for comments like that.

"What we've seen in this country is organised violent thuggery that has no place either on our streets or online.

"As the Home Secretary [Yvette Cooper] said this morning, we're talking about a minority of thugs that do not speak for Britain.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Strictly

Newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy competed on the BBC's Strictly last year

PA

"And in response to it, we've seen some of the best of our communities coming out and cleaning up the mess, disruption of those that don't speak for our country.

"We've seen a response from people that do speak for our country. I think you can you can tell from that that the PM does not share those sentiments."

Musk isn't the only famous figure to call out the Prime Minister for his language and reaction to the ongoing riots on Britain's streets.

Jeremy Clarkson urged Starmer and the BBC to "calm down" the "rhetoric" of calling everyone concerned with immigration as "far-right" and "modern-day Hitlers".

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