Tag Archives: grooming gangs

Kemi Badenoch Slammed For ‘Politicising’ Grooming Gangs With Press Conference

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Kemi Badenoch has been called out for “politicising” the grooming gangs after holding a new press conference on the scandal.

The Conservative leader and the shadow home secretary Chris Philp sat on a panel with some of the victims’ family members on Tuesday.

The meeting was a response to Labour’s sudden decision to call a national inquiry on grooming gangs.

The move stunned Westminster as the government previously accused any politicians who called for another probe of “jumping on the far-right bandwagon”.

But Keir Starmer claimed to have changed his mind over the weekend after an independent report from Baroness Louise Casey on child sexual exploitation recommended another inquiry.

The Conservatives have subsequently seen this as a victory on their campaigning, and called on Starmer to apologise for his past remarks – while somehow still promising to support the government with the new probe.

Then today, Badenoch suggested grooming gangs should not be a politicised issue at her press conference.

“I do think we should take the politics out of it,” she said to reporters.

Moments later, she attacked Labour again, saying: “Who was it that said when we raised this issue that we were pandering to the far right?

“That’s what brought the politics into it. Who was it that said that this was dog whistle politics? It was Keir Starmer and his ministers.”

Badenoch then claimed she had separated herself from the political issues, reminding those present that she was at a press conference with survivors of the scandal – and claimed she would only do politics in the Commons.

She said: “When I’m in the Houses of Parliament, when I’m in the Commons, I will do politics. And I think that it is wrong for people to tone police those who are pointing out when something has gone wrong.”

Badenoch’s press conference was also arranged at the same time as Casey herself was giving evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about the report.

Casey said on Monday that she was “disappointed” by the Tory leader’s reaction in the Commons to the grooming gangs report.

“I just felt, dare I say it, the opposition could have just been a bit, “yes, we will all come together behind you”. Maybe there is still time for that,” Casey told BBC Newsnight.

So when Badenoch used her press conference on Tuesday to lash out again at the government, she quickly attracted criticism on social media, with many users describing her conference as “disingenuous” and “deeply uncomfortable”.

Kemi Badenoch having a press conference on grooming gangs, and declaring this to be not political, would be a lot more convincing if this were a /cross-party/ press conference.As it is this performative ‘we’re on your side’ exercise is coming across as disingenuous.

— Rallicat (@rallicat.fun) 2025-06-17T11:07:23.398818Z

The absolute chutzpah of Kemi Badenoch holding a press conference with victims of sex trafficking and bemoaning lack of progress at the VERY SAME TIME that Baroness Casey is presenting her findings and, notably, actions/next steps following her rapid 3 month report. Wind your neck back in, Kemi luv.

— Stephsimone (@stephsimone.bsky.social) 2025-06-17T11:02:06.303Z

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Here’s Why Lucy Powell’s Comments On Grooming Gangs Really Matter

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Timing, as in good comedy, is vital in politics.

That’s why Lucy Powell’s comments on Friday night about the child grooming gangs scandal really matter.

The House of Commons leader lost her composure during an appearance on Radio Four’s political debate programme Any Questions.

It came after Reform UK campaigner Tim Montgomerie mentioned a Channel 4 documentary on the abduction and rape of vulnerable young girls by groups of men of mainly British-Pakistani backgrounds.

Powell interrupted to say: “Oh we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Let’s get that dog whistle out shall we, yeah?”

It didn’t take long for her comments to provoke a backlash on social media, with Reform and the Tories both piling in as well.

A spokesman for Nigel Farage’s party said: “Lucy Powell’s abhorrent comments truly demonstrate how out of touch the Labour Party is.”

Of course, Powell’s remarks – for which she later issued an apology of sorts – would have ignited a fierce political row regardless of when she said them.

Labour has been heavily criticised for rejecting calls for a national inquiry into the scandal, preferring instead to promote investigations at a local authority level.

But it was the fact that her outburst came just hours after Reform UK – which has campaigned heavily on the issue – had won the local elections in England that made them so politically toxic for Labour.

As well as taking hundreds of council seats off the Tories, the right-wing party also showed that they can pull off stunning victories in traditional Labour areas like Durham and Doncaster.

With Reform also breathing down Labour’s neck in many of the areas where the grooming scandal took place, Powell’s words could almost have been deliberately chosen to cause maximum reputational damage to her party.

No wonder one senior figure in No.10 called them “appalling”.

According to The Sunday Times, education secretary Bridget Phillipson will be sacked at the next cabinet reshuffle, with Lisa Nandy also facing the axe along with her Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Senior Labour figures are now openly speculating that Powell’s neck is also on the chopping block.

“She shouldn’t be allowed on broadcast,” one told HuffPost UK, while another said: “What a car crash.”

For now at least, Downing Street appears to be backing Powell to ride out the storm.

Health secretary Wes Streeting offered up a stout defence of her on the broadcast round this morning, saying: “We all make mistakes. I’ve made mistakes in the past, I’m sure I’ll make mistakes in the future.

“The important thing is when we make mistakes, we own it, we apologise. That’s exactly what Lucy has done.”

But it would not be a surprise if, come the reshuffle, Powell finds herself on the backbenches.

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David Lammy Accuses Elon Musk Of ‘Peddling Mistruth’ Over Grooming Gangs Row

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David Lammy has accused Elon Musk of “peddling mistruths” following his attacks on Labour’s approach to the grooming gangs scandal.

The foreign secretary urged the world’s richest man to “focus on the facts” when using X, the social media platform he owns, to intervene on the row.

Musk accused safeguarding minister Jess Phillips of being a “rape genocide apologist” who should be in jail, and also attacked Keir Starmer’s record as head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

His outspoken comments shot the issue up the political agenda, culminating in MPs last night rejecting a Tory call for a national inquiry into grooming gangs targeting vulnerable young girls in dozens of towns across England.

The government has said a new probe is not needed while they implement the recommendations of Professor Alexis Jay’s inquiry into child sexual abuse, which reported in 2022.

On BBC Breakfast this morning, Lammy said: “There has been a debate prompted by Elon Musk, of course, this week, and I think the prime minister was right earlier in the week to call to mind the facts, the truth and to call out those who are putting forward mistruths in this area.”

Asked by presenter Naga Munchetty what he would personally say to Musk, Lammy said: “I insist that we focus on the truth, we focus on the facts.

“I recognise that there is a heated debate about free speech, and Elon Musk is at one end of that debate. But to have free speech, it must be based on facts and on truth.

“And some of what we’ve seen online is peddling mistruth, is creating bad faith, is very unfair to those victims, and I pray in aid the words of Alexis Jay in the last few days, which concentrates the minds on her recommendations, on the victims that sit behind this, and getting on with implementing her inquiry.”

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