The four women who resigned from the national grooming gangs inquiry victims liaison panel have said they could return if safeguarding minister Jess Phillips resigns.
They told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, in a bombshell letter, that Ms Phillips had labelled some of their claims “untrue” and that they had provided evidence to the contrary.
One of the four, Ellie-Ann Reynolds, said the final turning point for her was “the push to change the remit, to widen it in ways that downplay the racial and religious motivations behind our abuse”.
Ms Phillips told MPs on Tuesday that “allegations of intentional delay, lack of interest or widening of the inquiry scope and dilution are false”.
However, in their letter to the Home Secretary, the four victims say that “evidence has since proven we were telling the truth”.
It came on a day when the government’s national inquiry into grooming gangs descended even further into farce.
The only remaining candidate to chair the probe – former police officer Jim Gamble – quit, blaming the “highly charged and toxic environment”.
Annie Hudson, a former director of children’s services for Lambeth, had already reportedly withdrawn.
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Badenoch blasts Phillips
Kemi Badenoch branded Jess Phillips as the “worst safeguarding minister we have ever had” amid calls for her to quit.
The Tory leader told GB News: “She is the worst safeguarding minister we have ever had. And actually things will be better when we have someone serious doing the job.
“This has been a national scandal. It needs a lot of work. The fact that four of the victims have lost confidence in the Government is a serious issue.”
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PM announces £10m additional funding to protect British Muslims from hate crime
The Prime Minister has pledged an additional £10 million in security funding to protect Muslim communities from hate crimes and attacks.
Sir Keir Starmer announced the funding boost following a visit with the Home Secretary to the Peacehaven Mosque in East Sussex which was targeted in a suspected arson attack earlier this month.
No one was injured in the fire which damaged the front entrance of the mosque and a car, while the police said they are treating the incident as a hate crime.
The new investment for mosques and Muslim faith centres will provide security measures including CCTV, alarm systems, secure fencing and security staff, the Government said.
Kemi Badenoch hits back in grooming gangs row
The Tory leader has rejected Labour MP and grooming survivor Natalie Fleet’s accusation that she was using victims as a political football, saying the MP had been “trying to sweep this under the carpet”.
Asked whether she accepted criticism from the MP, who was groomed and raped as a teenager, Mrs Badenoch said: “No, I don’t.
“I’m doing my job, and perhaps if Labour MPs were doing their job we would have a national inquiry.
“Natalie Fleet voted against a national inquiry three times. She, like other Labour MPs, (has) been trying to sweep this under the carpet.
“That’s why the victims are talking about a cover-up. Four victims resigned from the panel. If I didn’t speak out, I would not be doing my job.”
‘Chagos-China surrender deal puts our national security at risk’, warns Priti Patel
The shadow Foreign Secretary lashes out amid reports tha Chinese spyware has been found on fishing vessels near the Chagos islands.
“It is already obvious that the Chagos-China surrender deal puts our national security at risk and now we hear claims that Chinese spyware has been found on fishing vessels near the islands,” she said.
“If true, this news is yet more confirmation that Starmer is prepared to throw Britain’s safety aside in his desperation to kowtow to China.
“The Prime Minister has no backbone. Only the Conservatives will stand up to international threats and protect the British public.”
Priti Patel (Image: PA)
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Elon Musk says Jess Phillips should resign
Elon Musk has said Jess Phillips must “absolutely” quit as minister for safeguarding women and children, piling further pressure on as she battles to cling on to her career.
The US billionaire previously sparked an enormous row when he last went to war with Ms Phillips, after he labelled her a “rape genocide apologist” and called for her to be jailed.
‘of course’ I have faith in Jess Phillips, insists Keir Starmer
The Prime MInister’s defence comes after a group of women who resigned from the grooming gangs inquiry called for her to stand down as safeguarding minister.
Sir Keir said during a Thursday visit: “The most important thing in relation to the grooming gangs is that we have the national inquiry and that absolutely gets to the truth and to justice.”
Asked if he has faith in the minister, the Prime Minister told BBC South East: “Yes, of course, I do.
“Jess has been working on issues involving violence against women and girls for many, many years.”
Top peer condemns Jess Phillips’ record on women and girls
Top Tory peer Rachel Maclean has published a jaw-dropping character assassination of Jess Phillips, accusing the government of ‘gaslighting’ us into believe “she has more experience with victims than anyone else.
“Do you not think, for even one second, that Phillips ought to have the moral compass to resign?
“Because how is this going to play out now?
“Those women are not going to take part in the enquiry. Labour can pat themselves on the back and say how wonderful Phillips is.
“What about those women? Branded liars by a government minister, after being systematically raped and abused for years, while Jess’s friends running those Labour councils covered it up because they were too afraid to inflame “community” tensions.
“Who will get justice for them? Not Phillips. Not Starmer.”
Political pressure mounts on Jess Phillips
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Jess Phillips should resign or be fired, as grooming gang survivor Fiona Goddard has said.
“Jess Phillips called Fiona, a grooming gang victim, a liar – but Fiona has documentary proof she is telling the truth. It is shameful for a minister charged with protecting victims to have done this.”
Jenrick secures urgent debate on Chinese spy scandal
Robert Jenrick has secured an urgent question in the Commons this morning regarding the Attorney General Lord Hermer’s role in the ongoing Chinese spy scandal.
Two days ago Mr Jenrick sent Lord Hermer a letter containing five key questions he wanted answers to, including whether the AG was involved in the witness statement submitted by the Deputy National Security Adviser to the Crown Prosecution Service, which is believed to have collapsed the trial under this Labour government.
The top Tory said: “The public are being lied to about the China spy scandal.
“What did the
Attorney General know… he hasn’t replied to my letter, so I’ve secured an Urgent Question in the House of Commons this morning.
“Time for answers.”
Gamble also addresses the row over Jess Phillips
Jim Gamble told LBC: “She did nothing in her conversation with me to suggest I couldn’t address race, to suggest that the terms of reference would be diluted.
“And when I said I needed to be fundamentally independent and be able to bring victims in to proof terms of reference and agree them, she did nothing to say I couldn’t.
“So I know there’s heat in the moment, I know there’s emotion, there’s overflowing.
“I think she needs to get in the room with the victims who’ve left, including Fiona Goddard.
“But I really think there’s a more collegiate approach to this, putting victims at the centre and leading by example.”
Who should lead the national inquiry?
Jim Gamble says the chair of the national inquiry should have spoken “truth to power” before.
He said: “I understand the need for opposition politicians to challenge and my criticism isn’t simply targeted at Conservatives, many Conservative MPs have reached out to me throughout this process, and there are good people on all sides.
“What I am saying is, I’m not disputing it’s taken far too long to get here.
“I’m not disputing that some people have had to be convinced to do the right thing, what I’m saying is now that people are here get in a room.
“Everyone wants there to be an inquiry and I think the issue about who leads it needs to be revisited.
“Because it doesn’t matter whether you’re a judge, a police officer, a nurse, a social worker or whomever, whatever your background is, it’s about your character. What have you done?
“What have you achieved? And how can you evidence that you’ve actually challenged and spoken truth to power in the past.”
Former police chief Jim Gamble blasts ‘politicking’ over grooming gangs
He told LBC: “The petty politicking that you’re seeing in the margins is also not helpful.
“Ultimately, I would think politicians, all of whom have been aware of this for a long, long time, would realise that using victims and survivors to score points off one another in the House of Commons isn’t going to build anyone’s confidence.
“So they all need to get in a room, lead by example. Everyone wants this inquiry to take place, so let’s get consensus amongst the politicians.
“Let’s have a system whereby perhaps there’s a Select Committee that you can bring prospective chairs before and do that in a public and transparent way so that decisions can be made in the best interest of the inquiry, in the best interest of survivors and without the toxicity that’s begun to build in the margins.”
Jim Gamble, who pulled out of the process to become chair of the inquiry, speaks out
Former police chief Jim Gamble told LBC: “I think we’ve reached a point where we are echoing mistakes of the past.
“We’re not putting victims and survivors at the centre and I’m saying that across the board.
“So this isn’t simply about me targeting one set of politicians. No one has covered themselves in glory in this.
“I think it’s taken too long to get to where we are. I think the process, as it’s been set up, even with best intent, has failed to engage appropriately, to empower victims and survivors so that they have a sense of control.”
Farage blast grooming gangs failures
Writing in this newspaper, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “For decades, Labour authorities and police in English towns and cities covered up the rape of thousands of young British girls by gangs of largely Muslim men of Pakistani origin.
“It was one of the greatest scandals in modern British history.
“It will be an even bigger scandal if the Labour government tries to sacrifice justice for the victims again, in a desperate bid to save its own skin at the ballot box.”
Victims: “It is a betrayal that has destroyed what little trust remained.”
Ellie-Ann Reynolds, Fiona Goddard, Elizabeth Harper and a woman signed only as “Jessica” stated in a letter to Shabana Mahmood that there are five conditions that must be met for them to return to the advisory panel.
As well as Ms Phillips’s resignation, they call for “all survivors on the panel to be genuinely consulted on the appointment of a chair, who must be a former or sitting judge”, victims to be able to speak freely without fear of reprisal, the inquiry’s scope to remain “laser-focused” on grooming gangs and the current victim liaison lead to be replaced by a mental health professional.
The survivors’ letter, shared on Ms Goddard’s X account, says: “Being publicly contradicted and dismissed by a government minister when you are a survivor telling the truth takes you right back to that feeling of not being believed all over again.
“It is a betrayal that has destroyed what little trust remained.
“We have been failed by every institution meant to protect us. We were failed as children, we were failed by police who didn’t believe us, failed by social services who blamed us, and failed by a system that protected our abusers.
“We will not participate in an inquiry that repeats those same patterns of dismissal, secrecy, and institutional self-protection.”
Jess Phillips will remain in post, minister says
Jess Phillips will stay in post as safeguarding minister after the women from the grooming gang inquiry’s victims’ liaison panel called for her to resign, a minister has said.
Children’s minister Josh MacAlister told Sky News: “Jess will stay in post.”
He said she has the “full backing of the Prime Minister and Home Secretary”.
Ms Phillips is a “lifelong advocate and champion for young girls who’ve been abused” he said, adding that she has “already shown that she’s properly engaging with the survivor community”.
He said it is a “guarantee” that the scope of the inquiry would not be broadened.
Former candidate to chair inquiry says selection should have
The chair of the grooming gangs inquiry should be chosen for their “integrity” and not based on what institution they have worked in, the former police officer who withdrew as a candidate has said.
Jim Gamble acknowledged that his police background meant some survivors “couldn’t place their confidence in me”.
But after a group of women called for the chair to be a former or sitting judge, he told BBC Breakfast the Government was trying to stick to the recommendations in the Casey report which did not advise appointing a judge.
“We’ve become too focused on… which institution in particular people were part. Doesn’t matter whether you’re a judge, doesn’t matter whether you’re social care, doesn’t matter whether you’re policing, health, third sector or indeed, education. It’s not about which one of those institutions you served in, it’s about your character.
“And they need to look at the character of individuals. They need to look at the history of those individuals to establish, are they people with integrity?
“Are they people who are willing to challenge, speak truth to power and do the difficult things in difficult times? That’s what’s really important.”
