Half the public think Elon Musk is having a negative impact on British politics following his rants on X about Labour and Sir Keir Starmer, according to a new survey.

The South African-born billionaire has spent much of the past week attacking the prime minister over his opposition to another national inquiry into grooming gangs.

And he also asked his 212 million followers whether America should “liberate” the UK from its “tyrannical government”.

A poll published on Saturday suggested widespread opposition to Musk‘s involvement in British politics.

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Some 53% of people told Opinium they thought he was having a negative impact on politics, compared to just 12% who thought he was having a positive one.

On his comments about grooming gangs specifically, 47% said they thought Mr Musk was being “unhelpful”, compared to 26% who thought the opposite.

Adam Drummond, head of political and social research at Opinium, said a “lack of enthusiasm about a foreign billionaire involving himself in British politics” was “one area of agreement” among the public.

In other posts, he expressed support for Reform UK, but called for its leader Nigel Farage to step aside.

When asked about this, 71% of Reform UK voters said the Clacton MP was the best leader they could have now.

Earlier this week, Mr Farage insisted he could repair relations with the Tesla chief executive and incoming adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump.

But he also said Musk’s support was not “crucial” and it was more important to maintain his long-standing opposition to jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

The split between Mr Farage and Musk came after the billionaire expressed strong support for Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

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