Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has told Sky News that councils that believe they don't have a problem with grooming gangs are "idiots" - as she denied Elon Musk influenced the decision to have a national inquiry on the subject.

The minister said: "I don't follow Elon Musk's advice on anything although maybe I too would like to go to Mars.

"Before anyone even knew Elon Musk's name, I was working with the victims of these crimes."

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Image: Elon Musk. Pic: Reuters

Mr Musk had called Ms Phillips a "rape genocide apologist" in one of a series of inflammatory posts on X in January and said she should go to jail.

Mr Musk, then a close aide of US President Donald Trump, sparked a significant political row

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