.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said on Thursday that a full-scale investigation into the grooming scandal in the north of England, which began unraveling in 2013, was “long overdue”.
“In recent years, trials have been held across the country, but no one in power has joined the dots,” Badenoch told X, adding that 2025 is the year “victims begin to receive justice.” He added that it must be.
Conservative front-runners Chris Philp and Alicia Kearns later wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper calling for a national inquiry. But he did not comment on why the Conservatives had not launched such an investigation while in government.
A Labor Party spokesperson said the party already supported a comprehensive national inquiry into reported child abuse in 2022, as well as local independent inquiries in specific towns.
“The government is urgently working to strengthen the law to ensure these crimes are properly reported and investigated,” the spokesperson added.
The row erupted after Mr Musk began making inflammatory claims against Mr Starmer over his role in prosecuting perpetrators in the scandal.
The tech billionaire has been increasingly critical of the British government in recent months, comparing it to Joseph Stalin’s Russia. He supports Nigel Farage’s Reform Britain party and last month backed Germany’s far-right party AfD.
On Thursday, Musk wrote on his social media site X: Who was at the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013. ”
But Mr Starmer, who was director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013, began prosecuting the Rochdale grooming gang in his final year in office, shortly after the scandal in Greater Manchester first came to light.
Mr Starmer also launched an overhaul of the way the CPS investigates sexual abuse to ensure more perpetrators are brought to justice. The reform also paved the way for historical events to be reexamined.
Mr Musk defends Mr Starmer following reports this week that the Government had rejected Oldham City Council’s request for a Home Office-led inquiry into historic child sexual abuse in the town. “They are refusing to investigate rape gangs” because of this.
According to GB News, in a letter to local authorities, Mr Phillips said it was up to the council itself to “determine that the local authority commissions an investigation into child sexual exploitation, rather than for the government to intervene”. He said he believes there is.
Officials said local authorities were best placed to commission a field investigation, citing precedent from investigations in other towns such as Rotherham and Telford, which have been blighted by gang-related child sex abuse grooming. confirmed that this is the government’s view.
Additionally, His Majesty’s Police, Fire and Rescue Service, the watchdog responsible for inspecting police forces in England and Wales, carried out an independent investigation into child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester, including into the conduct of 10 police and police officers. I am doing it. Council to deal with such cases.
The SpaceX founder also reposted a message calling for the release of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, founder of the British Defense Union and former member of the British National Party, calling him a “political prisoner.”
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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 for repeatedly making false claims about Syrian refugees.
Downing Street declined to comment on Mr Musk’s latest outburst on Thursday, with one official saying the prime minister was focused on governing.
This is the latest in a series of personal attacks on Mr Starmer, who labeled him a “second class keel” during last summer’s riots, saying right-wing activists were treated more harshly by police than by police. This confirms a theory circulating on the internet that People from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK.
The Home Office said: ‘No child should be sexually abused or exploited. All those responsible for the welfare of children must learn from past mistakes and do everything they can to prevent future mistakes. No need.”
