Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives on New Year's Eve at Mar-A-Lago club on December 31, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Eva Marie Uzcategui / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
London: Elon Musk on Thursday called for the release from prison of Tommy Robinson, one of Britain's best known far-right agitators, in the US tech billionaire's latest intervention in UK events.
In a flurry of messages on his X platform, Musk also renewed his criticism of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, highlighting that his time as the country's top prosecutor coincided with a child grooming scandal emerging.
It comes after Musk, the world's richest man and key ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, faced recent criticism over his support for Germany's far-right AfD party.
Concerns have also emerged in Britain over claims that Musk is set to donate tens of millions of pounds to the upstart hard-right Reform UK party.
Musk has been highly critical of Starmer, including during anti-immigration riots that rocked English and Northern Irish cities last year.
In his overnight X posts, Musk claimed that Robinson was in "solitary confinement prison for telling the truth" and that "he should be freed".
His posts swiftly garnered huge support from far-right figures, including Dutch politician Geert Wilders, as well as some right-wing YouTube channels.
Robinson, a one-time football hooligan who boasts a string of UK criminal convictions, is serving an 18-month jail term for repeated contempt of court breaches.
He has amassed a big online following after years spearheading a vehemently anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant movement.
Accused of helping fuel last summer's riots, Robinson was jailed in October after he admitted committing contempt of court over a long-running libel case involving a Syrian refugee.
