DAN HODGES: The moral case for a full judicial inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal is unanswerable... but this is the REAL reason Labour is refusing to order one.
Published: 16:53 GMT, 4 January 2025
Imagine the following horror. After years of cover-ups, buck-passing and obfuscation, it is revealed a nationwide network of white paedophiles has been raping, murdering and torturing black and Asian children and teenagers. It emerges the gangs were operating in the open, with the full knowledge and tacit consent of local council leaders, officials and the police.
The scale of the abuse was so vast, entire towns were effectively turned into rape camps. And underpinning the campaign of abuse was a single, malign factor. Race. The girls had been specifically targeted because of the colour of their skin.
What would be the reaction of the political establishment to this outrage? In particular, what would be the reaction of politicians on the liberal Left? Those principled champions of racial tolerance and diversity who – rightly – rushed to the barricades to denounce the Windrush scandal, the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the death of George Floyd.
We all know the answer. They would be out on the streets. Cries of 'no justice, no peace' would echo across our major metropolis. Inquiries would be demanded daily. Prosecutions. The perpetrators, and those whose apathy had enabled the reign of terror, would be vilified. Knees would be taken in support of the victims. It would be framed as one of the greatest scandals of post-war Britain.
The victims were last week treated to a cold, sterile rejection of their appeals for justice by Labour Minister Jess Phillips (pictured), Dan Hodges writes
But that isn't what's happened. The scandal has indeed been exposed. But the perpetrators were predominantly British-Pakistani men, not white. Their prey almost exclusively white, not black.
So instead of an outpouring of righteous anger, the victims were last week treated to a cold, sterile rejection of their appeals for justice by Labour Minister Jess Phillips.
Responding to a call from Oldham Council for a full-scale government inquiry into the abuse, she replied: 'It is for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene.'
Phillip's rebuff generated a predictable storm of condemnation from her political opponents. Much of which can be quickly dismissed.
'The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal,' Kemi Badenoch declared. Conveniently forgetting that in 2022 her own government rejected a similar call, telling Oldham Council: 'The Government continues to be clear that it is for the local authorities in individual towns and cities, which are responsible for delivering local services, to commission local inquiries.'
Elon Musk, displaying the latest symptoms of his increasingly virulent Starmer Derangement Syndrome, took to X to rage: 'Who is the boss of Jess Phillips right now? Keir Starmer. The real reason she's refusing to investigate the rape gangs is that it would obviously lead to the blaming of Keir Starmer (head of the Crown Prosecution Service at the time).'
Yet in reality Starmer introduced a series of reforms when he was Director of Public Prosecutions that led to many of the rapists finally being brought to justice, including establishing a new national network of over 80 specialist prosecutors, a Child Sexual Abuse Review Panel and a 'victim's right to review', which finally gave the abused the right to challenge any decision not to prosecute.
But the ranting of Musk, and cynical politicking of Badenoch, cannot obscure a basic truth. Which is that the abuse of thousands of white, working-class children by predominantly Muslim, Pakistani-heritage men is one of the worst and most shaming events in our nation's history. And the moral and rational case for a full judicial inquiry is unanswerable.
The raving of the online conspiracy theorists also cannot be allowed to mask another truth. Which is it that it is once again the toxic intersection of race and politics that really lies behind the Government's decision to reject an inquiry.
The perpetrators of the abuse were, in the main, Muslim men. And Keir Starmer, his MPs and his Government are currently terrified of offending the Muslim community.
At the Election, significant numbers of Muslim voters turned on Labour. In Leicester South, a 22,000 Labour majority was overturned as Shadow Paymaster-General Jonathan Ashworth lost his seat to Muslim independent Shockat Adam, who triumphantly declared his victory was 'for Gaza'.
In Birmingham Perry Barr, a 15,000 Labour majority was lost. In Dewsbury and Batley a notional 14,000 majority. In Blackburn, a majority of 18,000.
This is what is driving Labour's policy on the rape gangs. Fear. Fear of further upsetting their Muslim base and losing seats as a result.
We see evidence of it every week. In Keir Starmer's meek reply to a call from one of his own Muslim MPs for an effective blasphemy law. The Government's callow response to the debate over a ban on first-cousin marriage. The decision to impose a partial arms embargo on Israel.
Abdul Rauf, Mohammed Sajid and Kabeer Hassan were jailed for their involvement in a child sex exploitation ring
Abdul Aziz, Mohammed Amin and Adil Khan (L-R) - three of the nine members of child sex exploitation ring from Rochdale and Oldham
And we can see it most of all in the mealy-mouthed response of Jess Phillips, putative Minister for Safeguarding And Violence Against Women And Girls.
There is no politician of any party who has a more formidable track record of highlighting and combatting gender-based abuse than Phillips. During her time working for Women's Aid, she helped protect countless women and girls from domestic abuse, sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
But at the Election, her majority was slashed by the pro-Palestinian crusaders. So even she has now been cowed.
Revealing again what really lies at the heart of the so-called grooming scandal. Yes, they were horrific crimes of unspeakable violence. But they were also crimes motivated by racial hatred.
The testimony of the survivors is clear. 'I was called a 'white slag' and 'white c***' as they beat me,' one recounted. 'They made it clear that because I was a non-Muslim, and not a virgin, and because I didn't dress 'modestly', that they believed I deserved to be 'punished'.'
Now those survivors are being punished again. Their call for the nation to bear full and formal witness to their suffering casually and callously dismissed. And they are being punished for the same reason they were initially targeted. Because they are white, and their attackers are predominantly Muslim.
We do not need to indulge the deranged conspiracies of Elon Musk and his acolytes. The way the British political establishment has betrayed – and continues to betray – the victims of the Muslim rape gangs is shame enough.
MOS.
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