Labour has blocked an inquiry into Sir Keir Starmer’s conduct as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service while investigating the Oldham child grooming scandal.
Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, refused to launch a public inquiry into historical sexual abuse by gangs in Oldham, saying it was for the council to decide whether one was necessary.
The scandal was one of several across the country in which dozens of girls were abused by British Pakistani gangs.
Police forces and prosecutors often did not take action for fear of being called racist or Islamophobic, a failing Sir Keir addressed in 2012 when he was running the CPS as the director of public prosecutions.
People are seeing this as an opportunity to get 2K.
At which point tribalism kicks in and no one gets anywhere.
Sigh.
There’s a whole layer of the British state that should be in jail over this. And it’s not the DPP. It’s lower than that. The police sergeants CPS lawyers, local councillors, it’s at that level. And trying to get the DPP means we’ll never be able to get those others.
Give up the political ambitions in order to be able to cut out the cancer.
Oldham Council are the accused, you can’t have the accused investigating themselves!
Any investigation at the local level will have impact on the national level. The danger for the national level politicians and officials is that if you throw a local councillor under the bus, the councillor break ranks and starts giving up other names, some of whom would be national level officials and politicians. I doubt you really could keep this at the local level.
It is hard to believe that this was simply a local thing given the number of grooming gangs that were operating across the country over the years. My view is as bad as this would be for the various police officers, social workers, councillors and the like, the real damage would be to the Labour party.
Salamander @ 7.47, “the real damage would be to the Labour party”.
All the more reason to prosecute it then?
Why would a strident feminist Labour MP representing a diverse constituency want no part of an inquiry into the systematic rape, torture and threats of murder of young, vulnerable, white working class girls by gangs of mainly muslim men? I mean, it seems so puzzlingly out of character…
But then Labour MP Naz Shah suggested that abused girls in Rotherham and elsewhere needed to shut their mouths “For the good of diversity”…
As strange as it may seem, I think such an inquiry would be a complete waste of time and money. Not least because the Tories had ample time and reason to conduct such an event.
Proper criminal investigations need to be carried out on the ground : for the coppers, social workers and councillors who enabled this to happen.
Then they need to be taken for a little ride in some helicopters.
@Addolff
I am all for destroying the Labour party.
Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, refused to launch a public inquiry into historical sexual abuse by gangs in Oldham, saying it was for the council to decide whether one was necessary.
Sir Humphrey will be proud, a new way to kick something in to the long grass – tell a skint council that if they want it they can set up a very expensive inquiry with the implicit threat that if they do they will be accused of wasting money instead of spending it on the needy.
It is hard to believe that this was simply a local thing given the number of brutal rape
groominggangs that were operating across the country over the years.FTFY. Lets call it what it is and not sanitise it for the benefit of the guilty.
As to how high it goes? There was one document on X from a Brown era official telling police to basically ignore it because the girls were deemed to have given informed consent.
I think Reform are going to make a big name for themselves over this, Rupert Lowe is already proving to be one of the most effective backbenchers of this parliament and he’s getting his teeth in to it. They’ll be able to go for Labour at the local where there’s already a lot of anger at Starmer and tear them apart.
The only ally Starmer has is the BBC because they’re also tainted having at best ignored and at worst deliberately suppressed reports of what was going on.
What Otto said.
Kemi should STFU in view of her party’s failure to address this obvious evil during their lengthy period in office.
(See also immigration, net zero, HS2, erosion of press freedom, erosion of living standards, increased tax burden etc etc etc.).
How do we fix this, though? The police are corrupt, the councils are corrupt, the courts are corrupt, the government is corrupt, and all the time the numbers of people who might join these gangs are growing. Often it is literally the Royal Navy picking them up and delivering them.
BiND
Reform’s tactics have to include highlighting the previous failure of the conservatives to address this issue.
They are the real target going forward and you would be hard pressed to find a more indefensible example of heinous conduct while in office.
Keep stressing they can never be trusted again. Simples. .
Kicking out and jailing swathes of state employees would be wonderful, but I’d gladly settle for increasing Starmer’s burden. The man needs more anxiety – he’s got the Rudakubana case to worry about, the economy flatlining, his appalling popularity ratings, and hopefully a few leadership challenges from colleagues who fancy their chances. Add this to the pile – it’s all good!
As for Phillips, I would love to be a fly on the wall as government lawyers struggle to explain to Mrs. Gobby what her rights and duties are. And I wouldn’t be surprised if she tries to change her official photo, in the light of this. Check it out. It looks like a computer-generated cartoon for “unjustified smugness”, and it doesn’t sit well with narratives involving rape with broken bottles and branding of young girls.
There is no point in a public inquiry as the outcome will be determined by the people who set the terms and scope and who control the choice of chair.
It’ll find no one personally to blame and that it was a systemic failure and lessons will be learned.
Plus stringing it out allows everyone to blame to retire early so they can’t be sacked.
What people want (jail time and pensions taken as compensation), will only happen when there is some legislation enacted and that requires some decent politicians who are not already tainted by this scandal.
There’s a whole layer of the British state that should be in jail over this. And it’s not the DPP. It’s lower than that.
Mmmm…. The fish rots from the head. Think of from the perspective of the personal interests of the individuals down the various tiers. There’s been a pretty firm message from the top that problems from the enrichment would be regarded as “inconvenient”. So at every level there’s been people thinking “What’s going to be the effect for me if I pursue this?” Danzuk is saying he was warned off. And that’s an MP. How’d you like being a copper thinking about your promotion prospects?
I’d say Mr Smith probably has it. A couple hundred million will discover that no one can be held personally responsible but lessons have been learned.
While the conclusion of any inquiry would be predictable, there would be plenty of opportunity to expose Muslim attitudes to white females and for Reform to widen the discussion….All in all, worth £200m!
I want criminal enquiries, not a seven-year lawyer-fest ending up in lessons learned. I want an office in the national crime agency to be investigating the police and social workers. Not about historical offences but the ones that are happening right now. This problem shouls not be referred to in the past tense.
Jess Philips may not be as guilty as she seems. I speculate that the three month delay in replying to the Oldham emails was her trying to get support from TTK and the treasury to have a proper enquiry but she was unable to because of the skeletons in everybody’s cupboards. Miind you if I’m right she should have resigned. Still should, really.
It’s still going on. Soembody needs to go to jail, not just the rapists. And if there’s anywhere that particular ethnicity/culture exists which hasn’t had a prosecution, that’s where to look.
Views may reasonable differ. Some suggest machine-gunners while others favour lions and flame-throwers.
Jess Philip’s constituency has a very large muslim population. I don’t think she took much persuading to kick this into the long grass.
There’s a whole layer of the British state that should be in jail over this.
In jail, doing a funny dance under a lamppost, set on fire… I’m easy.
Don’t forget nonce judges.
Lions, one-way helicopter rides….
The scandal was one of several across the country in which dozens of girls were abused by British Pakistani gangs.
“Dozens” – they’re still lying.
The Independent newspaper did some pretty good sustained investigative reporting into Muslim paedophile rape gangs a couple of years ago.
The actual figure is over 150,000 child victims (and counting, because they keep letting MORE Muslims in).
The problem also isn’t “British Pakistani gangs” – loads of the grooming gang members were very recent arrivals (“refugees” and “asylum seekers”) from countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Egypt, Morocco and Turkey.
The problem is Islam.
Jgh – Deus vult.
Bullshit, bullshit and bullshit. Der Starmer is blocking investigation because it started at the top and he may be found to have been personally responsible.
Tim says:
Give up the political ambitions in order to be able to cut out the cancer.
I disagree tho. Westminster is the cancer.
The cure is a lot like bankruptcy or the collapse of Syria. Glacially slow, then all at once.
I hope Reform keep on keeping on. The mandate of Heaven is with Nigel.
Any “inquiry” should be a broad criminal investigation (so not just Oldham) involving police from more than just a single force and where none of the participant forces are known to have had muslim rape gangs operating on their patch. For example, Thames Valley who ignored the Oxford rapists, would be ineligible and perhaps British Transport Police or even the Military Police would need to be seconded in to help with the project with the object being to eliminate insofar as it’s possible any conspiracy to obfuscate the truth.
For someone who has claimed that the buck stops here Starmer is very good at throwing subordinates and others under the bus and not taking responsibility
“The scandal was one of several across the country in which dozens of girls were abused by British Pakistani gangs.”
Yeah, what Steve said above. Much like, WW2 was a catastrophe in which hundreds died.
Curious, though: this is really blowing up the discourse in the US. Puzzling to me, as it’s old news, really.
So, what triggered this now? If you read Xitter today, the Special Relationship is gone. Is it just that Trump’s election is giving us permission to say the unsayable, finally?
BniC – For someone who has claimed that the buck stops here Starmer is very good at throwing subordinates and others under the bus and not taking responsibility
He means donor bucks stop here, in his pocket.
Bobby – Trump winning broke an evil spell. Suddenly, it’s 1989 in the West.
One of the most immediate signs has been the speed at which the tranny menace is now receding. A couple of years ago, trannies were Clownworld’s elite Jannisaries, conquering women’s toilets and female sports everywhere you looked. Now corporations and politicians can’t get away from them fast enough. Won’t be long before everybody swears blind they never believed men could be women.
But that’s just an amuse bouche for what’s coming. Voters now want remigration, and they want paedophile grooming gangs to be hanged from the neck until dead. Historically, neither is an unreasonable or unusual position, so I expect it to happen.
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
bobby b: « If you read Xitter today, the Special Relationship is gone. »
I shouldn’t think so (always allowing for the fact that the “Special Relationship” is something of a mythology in the British psyche): it’s much more a case of Labour govt politicians having gone out of their way to insult Trump for years and (as they thought) with impunity.
The war against Musk is a recent development and an altogether silly fight to pick.
So both men have personal reasons to have a pop and sound political reasons too since the govt here is not just on the opposite side but hopelessly inept and frankly malevolent towards their perceived class enemies.
Local enquiries (e.g. Oldham) won’t suit Labour because most of the crimes were committed in Labour fiefdoms. So I’m a bit puzzled why a national enquiry is being smothered at birth, given the 14 years of Tory indifference to the scandal.
Also public enquiries can go on forever, see Hallett or the Northern Ireland money pits. Enough time for the culprits and enablers to retire on index linked pensions.
Instead of enquiries the cops should open “cold cases” where they initially took no action.
There can’t be any chargeable crimes left that haven’t timed out on a statute of limitations period, can there? So it’s all just going to be reputational damage to the baddies?
Bobby – there is no statute of limitations in England.
Furthermore, Parliament can pass any laws it sees fit, including retrospective or even posthumous punishments.
It’s how come Oliver Cromwell’s head ended up on a spike. There’s something to think about, Keir.