内容摘要：A senior Conservative figure warns that this week has “set up a public services Parliament … you can’t go through a sustained period of time when you just rely on the vibes.”

A senior Conservative figure warns that this week has “set up a public services Parliament … you can’t go through a sustained period of time when you just rely on the vibes.”

The world's richest man has been sounding off in the strongest possible terms about the prime minister for almost as long as Sir Keir Starmer has been in Downing Street.In recent days, the focus has been on child sexual exploitation and Musk's allegation that the prime minister was "complicit in the rape of Britain" when he was Director of Public Prosecutions by failing to deal with the scandal.

I'm told Sir Keir "will not want to get into a food fight with Musk" but will make a robust defence of his time as chief prosecutor.He is also keen to emphasise the importance of political debate being grounded in verifiable facts and that Musk is making claims that are "blatantly untrue" as one source put it.Sources point, for instance, to those defending the Prime Minister's record as DPP, including another former senior prosecutor who took to X - the social media platform Musk owns - to say Sir Keir oversaw a record number of child abuse convictions.

Those in government also point to the local inquiries there have been into the abuse and rape of vulnerable young girls by groups of men mainly of Pakistani descent – and the national inquiry conducted by Professor Alexis Jay.The Conservatives, Reform and Elon Musk have each expressed varying degrees of outrage in recent days that the government has said no to a public inquiry into the scandal.

But few expected this weekend's twist: that within hours of the Reform leader Nigel Farage describing Musk as a "hero" who "makes us look cool," the X owner said

"It's not been the perfect day," said one Reform figure with a splash of understatement and a smile. "We probably do look a bit silly."The event to set out their key messages for the coming months - the bridge, they hope, from the local election results until the general election is actually called - was remarkable in and of itself.

Literally remarkable, because it had a scale, an ambition and likely a budget normally associated with a party conference or the moment an election campaign is formally beginning.It felt like the launch of a campaign for

It was in a film studio, of all places.and no shortage of probably pricey razzmatazz.