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Elon Musk received short shrift after declaring the English Channel should be re-named after George Washington.

One Conservative politician came up with an alternative suggestion and appeared to hint that the tech mogul may not know his history.

Mr Musk, the owner of Twitter/X and leader of US President Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, has called for the English Channel to be re-named the George Washington Channel. He posted a photo showing how a new map could look, with the words: “New name for the water that separates England and France.”

George Washington was the commander of the rebel forces in the American war of independence from 1775 to 1783, when Britain was defeated. This led to the establishment of the United States as a sovereign nation with Washington as its first president.

The suggestion of a name change comes after Donald Trump’s government declared it had changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. It also appeared to continue Mr Musk’s habit of attacking the UK, after the billionaire suggested that America “should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”.

However the idea was shot down by former Tory Minister Greg Hands, who said 34rd president Dwight D. Eisenhower was more worthy of the honour.

He said: “If anything, surely the Dwight D Eisenhower Channel would make more sense?”

President Eisenhower, known as Ike, was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during the second world war. In this role he oversaw the invasion of Normandy in 1944 including the d-day landings, when British, American and Canadian troops as well as forces from other allied countries crossed the Channel to liberate France.

It means that President Eisenhower has a direct connection to the Channel in a way that George Washington does not.

While Mr Musk is a close ally of Mr Trump, the President may not appreciate his repeated digs at the UK. Mr Trump has attempted to build bridges with Sir Keir Starmer’s government and the pair had what appears to have been a very warm telephone conversation on Sunday night. Downing street said the two leaders “stressed the importance of the close and warm ties between the UK and the US” and agreed to meet soon.

Mr Trump also praised Sir Keir, saying: “I get along with him well. I like him a lot.”

However there is nothing to prevent Americans calling the English Channel anything they like. In France, the stretch of water between the two countries is known as La Manche, which translates as “the sleeve” and removes any suggestion that it might in some way belong to England.

England football legend Paul Gascoigne also had his say, suggesting it could be re-named “The Paul Gascoigne Channel”.

And Mr Musk’s fellow tech guru Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, suggested Mr Musk should focus on his Tesla electric car business, saying: “You should go back to that. Stop messing around on the internet.”