Elon Musk’s dad has accused Keir Starmer of leading “a fascist government” and said he should resign.

Errol Musk said the prime minister was taking the UK on “a highway to hell” as he defended the rioters who caused chaos in the summer.

His comments, during a bizarre interview on Times Radio, came after his son reignited his war of words with Starmer over the weekend.

Errol Musk said: “It’s terrible to see what’s going on in England now. You don’t have to be a genius to realise, to say that Starmer is a fascist government. I mean, it’s totally fascist. There’s absolutely nothing democratic about it.

“Starmer needs to resign and they need to hold a new election in England because the people have had a wake-up call now. They need to re-elect a government in this country.

“This government that you’ve got now is the stairway to hell. Quote me on that. Stairway to hell is Starmer’s government. Just like you might say in years gone by, if you read history, I don’t know if you read history, but Cromwell’s government was a stairway to hell.”

Elon Musk clashed with the PM over the summer after he claimed Britain was heading for civil war amid the riots which followed the killing of three young girls in Southport.

He also criticised the sentences handed down to many of those who took part in the riots.

Denying that his son was “far right”, Errol Musk said: “Elon is dead centre. Just like the crowds that protested in England about the circumstances that they were unhappy with, none of them were far right. They were just ordinary people expressing legitimate grievances.”

When presenter Fi Glover told him they were prosecuted “for their racism and for their aggression”, Musk replied: ”You have the worst government, I think, in the history of the UK over the last 400 years right now.

“No, they were not racist. They were complaining about the circumstances that they are being forced to endure. That’s not racist, that’s common sense. So this talk about everybody who says they don’t like something is racist? No, that’s rubbish.”