The role in question had a starting salary of £46,000 and was only open to internal applicants.

Musk’s post criticising the position has been reposted by more than 12,000 people, and seen more than 6.7 million times.

In it, he said: “The woke mind virus propagates like cordyceps through government and corporations.”

His criticisms of EDI schemes have been echoed by US President Donald Trump, who signed multiple executive orders against the programmes when he returned to office in January.

He ordered that all US government staff working on EDI schemes be put on immediate leave and called for an end to the “dangerous, demeaning and immoral” programmes.

EDI programmes aim to promote participation in workplaces by people from a range of backgrounds.

Supporters say they address historical underrepresentation and discrimination against certain groups including racial minorities but critics say such programmes can themselves be discriminatory.

Another executive order saw President Trump create the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which is led by Musk and aims to slash federal spending.