September 15, 2025
By JamRadio Newsdesk | Opinions
Elon Musk’s appearance at the Unite The Kingdom rally over the weekend has sparked widespread condemnation, with Downing Street denouncing his remarks as “dangerous and inflammatory.” But behind the headlines, a quieter legal question is emerging: Could Musk be eligible for British citizenship through his British grandmother—and not even know it?
NEW: No 10 condemns Elon Musk’s warning to crowd at far-right organised rally that “violence is coming” and that “you either fight back or you die”.
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) September 15, 2025
PM’s spox: “The UK is a fair, tolerant and decent country, and so the last thing the British people want is this sort of dangerous…
A Liverpool-Born Grandmother
Musk’s paternal grandmother, Cora Amelia Robinson was born in, Liverpool, in August 1923. After surviving the Blitz (Nazi bombing raids) on her home city, she later emigrated to South Africa, where she raised Musk’s father, Errol Musk. Under current UK nationality law, this British birth could form the basis for a citizenship claim—though not automatically.
Before 1983, British nationality law was heavily gendered. While UK-born grandfathers could transmit citizenship to their children and grandchildren, UK-born grandmothers were excluded from doing so by gender-discrimination in British Nationality Law. This meant that Errol Musk, born abroad to a British mother, would not have been considered a British citizen under the law at the time.
Cora Amelia (Robinson) Musk Grandmother of Elon Musk (left) with her father (right)
Section 4L: A Remedy for Historical Injustice
In 2022, the Nationality and Borders Act introduced news sections into the British Nationality Act 1981. These provision allows adults to register as British citizens if they were denied that status due to:
• Historical legislative unfairness (such as gender discrimination),
• An act or omission by a public authority, or
• Exceptional circumstances.
If Errol Musk would have been a British citizen “but for” the discriminatory laws in place at the time of his birth, Elon Musk could argue that his own exclusion from citizenship is a consequence of that same injustice. Section 4L provides a “discretionary” route to correct such exclusions.
What Would an Application Require?
To succeed under Section 4L, Musk would need to demonstrate:
• That his grandmother was a British citizen (which she was, given her Liverpool birth),
• That his father would have acquired British citizenship had the law not discriminated by gender, (which he would have under section 5(1) of the British Nationality Act 1948)
• That this exclusion directly affected his own eligibility.
He may also need to meet the good character requirement, which may be subject to scrutiny given his recent political statements. But this might still be possible in light of a recent supreme court decision.
The posibility of Elon Mush being British could see him as a political figure (image: GROK)
Political Context and Public Interest
Musk’s remarks at the rally—where far-right protesters openly called for the assassination of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer—have intensified calls for accountability. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has urged the government to bar Musk from entering the UK (persona non grata) and to exclude Tesla from public contracts.
In this context, Elon Musk appears to have ticked all the boxes necessary to make an application for British citizenship. Albeit, any application for British citizenship would likely be controversial. While Section 4L is designed to correct historical wrongs, it also requires the Home Secretary to consider whether registration is in the public interest.
How the British Gov't legislated racist immigration & nationality laws that led to the WINDRUSH SCANDAL@CliveFoster3 @labourlewis @SeemaMalhotra1 @zarahsultana @BellRibeiroAddy @antoniabance @RupertLowe10 @DefendWindrush @WindrushJC @jeremycorbyn @ClaudiaWebbe @KimJohnsonMP pic.twitter.com/j7Vq8b16Yf
— Laser Mike (@LaserMike33) August 19, 2025
Euen Herbert-Small speaking on historical legislative unfairness and discrimination in British nationality law
Conclusion
Elon Musk’s ancestral link to Liverpool may offer a legal pathway to British citizenship under Section 4L and might create fresh headaches for Downing Street and the new Home Secretary. But whether he would pursue it—and whether the UK government would grant it—is another matter entirely. As the political fallout from this weekend’s rally continues, this quiet legal question may soon become a very loud one.
