The US has promised to unleash a “full range of tools” against Sir Keir Starmer in a bid to protect free speech in Britain.

On Monday, Labour unveiled plans for a crackdown on AI-generated sexual images – and could yet ban Elon Musk’s X website.

The social media platform is also under formal investigation by media watchdog Ofcom.

But now, the US State Department’s Sarah B Rogers has laid down the gauntlet to Labour in a bombshell GB News interview.

Ms Rogers said the Government’s ban threats were politically motivated – and that “given the pro-censorship inclinations of the British state in recent memory, I can’t say that we’ll be shocked” if it followed through.

She told Britain’s News Channel that “America has a full range of tools that we can use” to open up internet access in “authoritarian, closed societies where the Government bans it.”

“We are facilitating uncensored internet in Iran right now,” she added, referencing efforts by Elon Musk to hook Iranians up to his Starlink satellite connection.

“With respect to a potential ban of X, Keir Starmer has said that nothing is off the table.

“I would say from America’s perspective, nothing is off the table when it comes to free speech.

“Let’s wait and see what Ofcom does and we’ll see what America does in response.

“This is an issue dear to us, and I think we would certainly want to respond.”

Ms Rogers, the US Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, said both Donald Trump and JD Vance were “huge champions” of free speech.

“Our leadership understands this because President Trump was himself a target of censorship. President Trump was banned by Twitter – the old regime before Elon bought it.”

X IN THE FIRING LINE – READ MORE:

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• Labour ‘wants any excuse for censorship’ says Elon Musk amid Ofcom probe into his X platform
• Labour’s fake outrage at Elon Musk’s X masks its ideological cowardice towards the rape gangs – Lee Cohen

She went on to reference how slain Russian dissident Alexei Navalny compared President Trump’s ban to something Vladimir Putin’s regime would do.

“You have to take that comparison seriously. That’s why our President cares about this issue – because people couldn’t deal with his popularity, they couldn’t deal with his success, and they tried to just shut him up so no one could hear him.”

She added that “all Americans will feel disappointed” if Labour banned the site – “but frankly, given the pro-censorship inclinations of the British state in recent memory, I can’t say that we’ll be shocked”.

Ms Rogers had just days ago mocked Labour’s promise to “ensure women and girls are safe online” by threatening to ban X, pointing out how “in the real world” one of the party’s council leaders called grooming gang victims “white trash”.

And she reiterated to GB News that if the Government “cared about women’s safety, it would have acted differently on grooming gangs”.

Sir Keir Starmer issued a warning to X on Monday, saying the social media site could lose the “right to self regulate”.

The Prime Minister told Labour MPs: “If X cannot control Grok, we will – and we’ll do it fast, because if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self regulate.”

Ofcom, meanwhile, said: “There have been deeply concerning reports of the Grok AI chatbot account on X being used to create and share undressed images of people – which may amount to intimate image abuse or pornography – and sexualised images of children that may amount to child sexual abuse material.”

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has vowed to hold the site accountable, but her shadow counterpart warned a ban would be “an extraordinarily serious move against a platform that can be used for good”.

Ms Kendall said a new criminal offence of generating sexual images without consent would be brought into force this week under the Data (Use and Access) Act passed by Parliament last year.