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Labour minister slams Elon Musk after suggesting Jess Phillips 'deserves to be in prison' over grooming gang handling
3 January 2025, 09:26
A Labour minister has told Elon Musk to "focus on issues on the other side of the Atlantic" after the tech tycoon hit out at Labour's refusal to launch a new grooming inquiry.
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The US billionaire said on Wednesday that Labour MP Jess Phillips "deserves to be in prison" over her failure to launch an inquiry, with the US tycoon laying blame at the Prime Minister's door.
Speaking with LBC on Friday, the Public Health minister told Matthew Wright that "Elon Musk, as a US citizen, perhaps ought to focus on issues on the other side of the Atlantic..."
Musk had argued that "rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice" during Sir Keir's time as director of public prosecutions.
It comes after Phillips said she recognised the "strength of feeling" for a Home Office-led inquiry, but the Government will not "intervene", in a letter to Oldham Council.
Andrew Gwynne on Elon Musk's comments about Labour and grooming gangs
"We've already had inquiries into Telford, into Rotherham... and the government is seriously considering the recommendations," Andrew Gwynne told LBC.
Labelling grooming gangs a "very serious issue", he suggested Musk ought to stay out of UK politics, adding: "There comes a point [where] we don’t need more inquiries."
"Had Elon Musk really paid attention to what’s been going on in this country, he might recognise that there have already been inquiries.
"What we need is justice for the victims. And we need to make sure the criminal justice system follows up and makes sure that these atrocious things are never able to happen again."
Speaking out on the matter, Jess Phillips, the government's Safeguarding minister, said: "I believe it is for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene," she said.
Leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, appeared to back Musk by calling for a national inquiry into the UK's "rape gangs scandal".
Badenoch, writing on X, argued that a public inquiry into organised grooming gangs is "long overdue".
In her post, Mrs Badenoch wrote: "The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal.
"Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice."
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp reiterated calls for a national inquiry, adding: "We do need to make sure this is fully looked at and anyone responsible for not following it up is held to account."
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's World at One, he continued: "The issues don't just apply in Oldham, they apply, I'm afraid, in many other towns and cities as well, and it's I think right, now, that we look at that.
"I'm very disappointed the Labour government have been so silent on this topic."
Mr Philp and shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns wrote to Ms Phillips and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to say that only a public inquiry "can adequately encompass the national nature of these crimes and issues" and consider whether reports were ignored by the police, CPS and local council "or even covered up".
An Oldham Council spokesman said: "Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation.
"Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge."
Responding to Mrs Badenoch's post, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "Talk is cheap. The Conservatives had 14 years in government to launch an inquiry.
"The establishment has failed the victims of grooming gangs on every level."
Prior to this, Mr Musk had written on X: "In the UK, serious crimes such as rape require the Crown Prosecution Service's approval for the police to charge suspects.
"Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013."
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022, described the sexual abuse of children as an "epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake".
Led by Professor Alexis Jay, the inquiry looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.
In November last year, Professor Jay said she felt "frustrated" that none of the probe's 20 recommendations had been implemented more than two years after its conclusion.
She said: "It's a difficult subject matter, but it is essential that there's some public understanding of it.
"But we can only do what we can to press the Government to look at the delivery of all of this.
"It doesn't need more consultation, it does not need more research or discussion, it just needs to be done." Reform UK MP for Great Yarmouth Rupert Lowe also called for an inquiry into the issue on Thursday, arguing it has been "disgracefully ignored and suppressed for too long".
Mr Lowe said the British people should be able to "see for themselves the extent of the horror" and that the Government should publish "all detail".
He added: "What is the Home Office currently doing in order to prevent ongoing grooming, rape, exploitation or abuse of young British girls? How many girls are estimated to still be involved with these gangs?
"Will they publish a full nationality breakdown of those convicted for such offences, along with the location of their crimes?"
