Ministers defend Jess Phillips after Musk's grooming gangs criticism

Senior ministers have defended Jess Philips as she was singled out by Elon Musk as he criticised the UK's response to the grooming gangs scandal.

The billionaire X owner suggested Ms Phillips “deserves to be in prison” for denying requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.

Ms Phillips said in a letter to the local council that Oldham must follow in the footsteps of other towns such as Rotherham and Telford and commission its own inquiry into historical abuse of children.

In response, Home Secretary Yvetter Cooper defended Ms Phillips as a "fearless and formidable" advocate for sexual abuse victims.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting also defended Ms Philips, as well as the prime minister who Mr Musk has also criticised.

Speaking to Sky News he said they were both politicians who have "one particular thing in common," which was a track record of "banging up rapists, paedophiles and sex offenders" before entering politics.

Mr Streeting told the BBC Mr Musk's comments were a "disgraceful smear of a great woman who has spent her life supporting victims of the kind of violence that Elon Musk and others say that they’re against."

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said some of Mr Musk’s comments about Ms Phillips were “not appropriate” but he was right to raise the issue of grooming gangs.

Ms Cooper said: “Jess Phillips has dedicated her career to tackling sexual violence and abuse and to being a voice for victims and survivors of the most terrible crimes, including child sexual abuse,” she said.

“From setting up the first ever child sexual exploitation service in the Black Country and supporting survivors in Telford, Jess has been a fearless and formidable advocate for victims and survivors.

“She has worked with whistleblowers and campaigned tirelessly for justice for those badly let down by endemic institutional failure.”

Ms Cooper said the Birmingham Yardley MP would keep working on implementing the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022.

It 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.

The government has said the reason it is not doing a national inquiry in response to the request by Oldham Council is because the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse had already been carried out.

The Conservative government turned down a similar request from Oldham Council in 2022.

Professor Jay expressed frustration in November that none of the 20 recommendations made in her report had yet to be implemented two years after its publication.

Last year, Ms Phillips described X, formerly Twitter, as a “place of misery” and said she planned to use the site less.

Its owner Mr Musk, a key member of US President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle, shared and reacted to a series of tweets relating to grooming in the UK earlier this week.

The Tesla boss described the prime minister as “two-tier Keir”, claiming there was “no justice for severe, violent crimes but prison for social media posts” in the UK.

He also said Sir Keir failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions (DPP) between 2008 and 2013.

Senior Tories including Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch have since sought to put pressure on the government over grooming gangs.

Mrs Badenoch repeated her call for an inquiry in the Mail on Sunday, saying “some action was taken under the previous Tory government, but not enough”.

“We still need to know the extent to which institutions such as the police, local government and social services are compromised by political correctness, and even self interest,” she wrote.

“Only then can we have any hope of preventing this scale of abuse from happening again.

“We have failed to get to the bottom of how national-scale child sexual abuse happens, for fear of causing offence.”

Reform UK said on Saturday it would launch a national inquiry into grooming gangs if elected.

Chairman Zia Yusuf told supporters at a conference in Chelmsford, Essex, that his party would launch an independent inquiry that would “leave no stone unturned”.

Party leader Nigel Farage said a “full, open, national inquiry” was needed so that everyone in the country “knows the truth” and understands that “mass open-door immigration without assimilation is a complete cultural disaster for our country”.

Whistleblower Maggie Oliver, a former detective who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012, said Sir Keir is “perhaps as guilty as anyone” over the failure to bring about change but added that she believed those who “pop up when this hits the headlines” would not do so either.

Ms Oliver said on X that inquiries into what happened have led “absolutely nowhere” and “wasted” millions of pounds, adding that those leading them “have always wanted to cover up the truth”.

She went on: “I firmly believe we need totally independent people who will ensure it’s not just another attempt to delay and hide the truth. Radical change and overhaul of all our public bodies.”

“Bring in criminal accountability for all our senior police and public officials who have turned a blind eye.”

She said she felt the Conservatives and Labour were equally to blame and that Sir Keir as former DPP is “perhaps as guilty as anyone I know in where we find ourselves today”.

“We all know what’s going on but I don’t trust a single one of those who to date have been entrusted with keeping our children safe and prosecuting serial rapists. They’ve failed. Repeatedly. Knowingly. Criminally.”

Whistleblower Sara Rowbotham, co-ordinator of the crisis intervention team set up to support young people in Rochdale, expressed frustration at Mr Musk’s posts about the scandal on X, which he owns.

She told The Guardian: “What is (Musk’s) motivation for interfering? It seems very political.

“The person he is trying to go after is Keir Starmer – it is a political swipe that is nothing to do with the women and girls who have been abused time after time.”

The Labour Party and Number 10 have been approached for comment.

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