The unrest was set off by misinformation online claiming that the teenager who murdered children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in northern England was a Muslim migrant. Central to this torrent of Islamophobic disinformation was X, where calls for violence were amplified.

Since the summer, Mr. Musk’s comments about the country have become even more extreme. In September, he falsely accused the Starmer government of “releasing convicted pedophiles from prison in order to put people in prison for Facebook posts.” He has repeatedly championed the cause of Tommy Robinson, a far-right, anti-Islam British activist with a slew of criminal convictions currently in jail for repeatedly breaking an injunction. During a posting spree at the start of January, Mr. Musk called for a government minister to be imprisoned, for new elections to oust the prime minister and for Mr. Starmer to be charged for complicity in the “rape of Britain.”

But British authorities have warned that further unrest could be possible. Even if the anti-racists have numbers on their side, the violent protests highlight that there is a passionate minority who feel emboldened to display anti-immigrant and racist views.

In recent weeks, far-right protesters have attacked a hotel housing asylum seekers, and assaulted police officers and first responders. Bricks and gasoline bombs were launched at mosques, while police shared footage of a Muslim bus driver who was racially abused and spat at as he worked.

Some elected officials have voiced their own safety concerns. Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf told a podcast last week that the riots made him question whether he wanted to stay in Britain.

14 yrs of Tory populism and austerity, and what have we got to show for it?

A third of British children live in relative poverty. And there are more food banks than there are McDonald's.

That's how populism works. It promises the moon, and instead, it hands you a DVD copy of 'Apollo 13'.

We had finally come full circle, with Britain being govberned by economic terrorists and diaster capitalists enabled by a political class of grifters and ambulance chasers, blaming immigrants and poor people for all the country's woes, whilst sucking out every last morsel of marrow out of the bare bones of the rotting corpse of the state.

Who is Keir Starmer, set to be

Starmer, 61, has faced years of criticism for a perceived lack of charisma, but his methodical mission to drag Labour back toward the center of British politics and broaden its voter appeal paid off. Starmer and Labour also, indisputably, capitalized on years of economic pain and political chaos under the Conservatives.

Starmer will take the reins of government with a herculean task at hand, with the British people's overall trust in politicians at rock bottom, a record number of children in the U.K. living in poverty, and both his party and the Conservatives grappling with how to handle surging support for a far-right, anti-immigrant strain of politics taking root across Europe.

At a crossroads - Will the European Union shift to the right?