Learning to see through Elon Musk's disgraceful attacks on Labour is vital

Nine days into the new year and it’s business as usual in the world of politics in Scotland and across the UK. On Monday, we had Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour Party, spell out his vision in Glasgow for a future Scotland under his stewardship in which he spoke about a new kind of thinking required to progressively transform Scotland and chart a new direction for all Scots to be better off come the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.

This was music to my ears as it’s something I have been saying for a while. The political narrative in Scotland has been the same for quite some time, and Anas was right to highlight the number of quangos that exist in Scotland – 131 to be exact, more than the number of MSPs at the Scottish Parliament – many of which, let’s be honest, were designed to create something that the Scottish Government could hide behind, at a cost to you, the taxpayer.

Meanwhile, over in Edinburgh, we had John Swinney, First Minister of Scotland, take to the podium to outline his reasons as to why opposition parties should back the draft Scottish Budget and speak about potential ramifications if it wasn’t approved, such as medicine shortages.

Elon Musk, seen at a rally for Donald Trump shortly before the US presidential election, is impossible to ignore, regardless of his father's suggestion that people could do so (Picture: Alain Jocard) | AFP via Getty Images

It’s no longer ‘Westminster’s fault’

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m not a fan of grandstanding politics or politically motivated, gimmicky gestures, as I would rather our politicians focused on outcomes for the people of Scotland.

But the fact of the matter is, as they say in politics, it’s all about numbers. The SNP-led Scottish Government has the numbers to get their Budget approved, but still used this opportunity to play petty politics. The message was underpinned with a puritan narrative of ‘if you don’t back it, it’s your fault and not ours’. But I have to say presenting your government’s budget and saying that if it isn’t approved it will result in medicine shortages, says more about the government’s confidence than anything else.

Against a backdrop of the UK Government’s record funding for the Scottish Government, with an extra £3.4 billion for the next financial year, it will be interesting to see how they maintain their “it’s Westminster’s fault” line. It may have worked when the Conservatives were in office but now it’s a complete irrelevance, given Labour’s historic increase in devolution funding.

Musk’s dad suggests ignoring his son

On Monday, we also had Sir Keir Starmer rightly responding to disgraceful comments from social media mogul Elon Musk about Labour safeguarding minister Jess Phillips and this is something I want to focus on.

I don’t care what he says about Nigel Farage or any other person from that school of thought. But I also don’t buy the so-called fallout between Farage and Musk, which in my opinion is designed to position Farage as a moderate to appeal to those who have been identified by a focus group as being somewhat supportive of Reform but not of Tommy Robinson.

In my opinion, Musk is nothing more than a rich kid with serious daddy issues who purchased a social media platform to showcase his distorted views of the world. Even his own father has said to ignore his son. Sadly, we can’t ignore what his son is doing, and neither should we ignore it.

Musk and others are the architects of a narrative based on right-wing ideology. I’m confident the majority of people in Scotland will see through it.

Fanning the flames of hatred

Since I recently returned from New York, virtually all I have seen on X/Twitter has been about the ethnicity of individuals who were involved in previous sexual grooming cases from people who are actively on the right. Worryingly, the discussion has focused on those perpetrators with Pakistani backgrounds.

Framing the conversation in this way is unhelpful and unnecessary, and those promoting this narrative must be aware that it could fan the flames of hatred and division and stoke up racism from others. The focus should be on the survivors of domestic and sexual abuse and on how best to avoid this happening to others in the future.

I have to say, I agree with Sir Keir Starmer that it is incredibly frustrating when certain politicians are jumping on this bandwagon. It was while the Conservatives were in power that the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse was conducted. It made a series of recommendations about which the Tory government did nothing. Just let that sink in and remember it the next time you hear Kemi Badenoch ask for a national inquiry. It was her party that did nothing in government.

A real concern

It’s incumbent on all of us to call this out whenever we see or hear it as history shows what happens if we don’t challenge the kind of divisive and dangerous comments that are currently being made by some about child sexual abuse. The murders of former MPs Jo Cox and David Amess demonstrate the worst that can happen as a consequence of stoking up the flames of hatred and division.

Musk is the world’s biggest keyboard warrior. Given the influence he has, his remarks will never go unnoticed. This is why we have a big issue and a real concern about where these messages from Musk and others will lead us.

Barrie Cunning is a former Scottish Labour candidate for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, managing director of Pentland Communications, and co-founder of Scotland 2050