UK Politician Breaks From Party With Offer to Dine With Musk

Britain’s technology secretary urged ministers in the U.K. to separate their perceptions of Elon Musk as a businessman and a politician, despite the Tesla chief’s controversial attacks on the nation’s leadership. Peter Kyle told The Times that Musk is an “unignorable force” who the government needs to “respect and engage with,” noting that the billionaire’s entrepreneurial feats and close ties to Donald Trump could be a “potential benefit” for the country. “I’ve been hired to do this job, to put country first, and if that means navigating sometimes complicated landscapes, it’s worth it.” The technology secretary even claimed he was prepared to sit next to Musk at dinner, musing that the billionaire is “probably quite a laugh.” Kyle’s comments stand in contrast to several members of the Labor party who have suggested that the government boycott X over Musk’s inflammatory rhetoric. Last week, Musk accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of being “complicit in the rape of Britain,” called for Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, to be jailed and described her as a “rape genocide apologist.”