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The Conservative Party has called for a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation, after Elon Musk accused Sir Keir Starmer of failing to bring rape gangs to justice when he was Director of Public Prosecutions more than a decade ago.
Conservative leader Kimmy Badenoch The British newspaper “Daily Mail” said on Thursday that a comprehensive investigation is “long overdue” into the grooming scandals in northern England that began to be revealed in 2013.
“There have been trials across the country in recent years but no one in power has connected the dots,” Badenoch said on the X programme, adding that 2025 should be the year in which victims “start to get justice”.
Conservative MPs Chris Philp and Alicia Cairns later wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper demanding a national inquiry. But they did not comment on why the Conservatives had not launched such an investigation while they were in government.
A Labor spokesman said the party already supported a comprehensive national inquiry into reported child abuse in 2022, and independent local investigations in specific cities.
The spokesman added: “This government is working urgently to strengthen the law so that these crimes are properly reported and investigated.”
The row erupted after Musk made inflammatory allegations against Starmer over his role in prosecuting the culprits in the scandal.
The tech billionaire has increasingly criticized the British government in recent months, comparing it to Joseph Stalin's Russia. He backed Nigel Farage's UK Reform Party last month He supported the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
Thursday, Musk He wrote on his social media site , 2008-2013.”
However, it was Starmer, when he was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013, who initiated the prosecutions of the Rochdale gang during his final year in office, shortly after the scandal emerged in Greater Manchester.
In addition, Starmer launched an overhaul of the way prosecutors investigate sexual assault to ensure more perpetrators are brought to justice. The reforms also paved the way for a review of historical issues.
Musk claimed Protection Secretary Jess Phillips was “refusing to investigate rape gangs” in order to protect Starmer, following a report this week that the government had rejected Oldham Council's request for a Home Office-led investigation into historic child sexual abuse in the city.
In a letter to the local authority, Phillips said she believed it was the council itself that “decides to conduct an investigation into child sexual exploitation locally, and not the government to intervene,” according to GB News.
Officials stressed that the government's view is that local authorities are best placed to conduct local investigations, citing the precedent of investigations in Rotherham and Telford, two other towns plagued by gang-related child sexual assaults.
In addition, the oversight body responsible for inspecting police forces in England and Wales, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, is carrying out an independent review into the sexual exploitation of children in Greater Manchester, including the conduct of the police and 10 councils in dealing with such cases. .
The SpaceX founder also called for far-right activist Tommy Robinson – founder of the English Defense League and former member of the British National Party – to be released from prison, and reposted messages claiming he was a “political prisoner”.
Robinson, a convicted fraudster whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October after admitting contempt of court by repeating false claims about a Syrian refugee.
Downing Street declined to comment on Musk's latest comments on Thursday, with one official saying the prime minister was focused on governing.
It was the latest in a series of personal attacks by the billionaire against Starmer, after he described him as a “second-rate Kier” during last year's summer riots, endorsing a popular online theory that right-wing activists are treated more harshly by police. People from ethnic minority backgrounds in the United Kingdom.
The Home Office said: “No child should suffer sexual abuse or exploitation. Every person responsible for caring for children must learn from past mistakes and do everything they can to prevent future failure.”
