Unlock Editor’s Digest at no cost
FT editor Roula Khalaf picks her favorite stories on this weekly newsletter.
The Conservatives have called for a national inquiry into child sex abuse after Elon Musk accused Sir Keir Starmer of failing to bring rape gangs to justice when he was chief prosecutor greater than a decade ago.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said on Thursday that a full investigation into the grooming scandals in northern England, which began to emerge in 2013, was “long overdue”.
“There have been trials across the country in recent years, but no one in power has connected the dots,” Badenoch told X, adding that 2025 should be the yr when “victims start to experience justice.”
Tory MPs Chris Philp and Alicia Kearns later wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper demanding a national inquiry. However, they didn’t comment on why the Conservatives didn’t launch such an investigation after they were in government.
A Labor Party spokesman said the party had already supported a national overarching inquiry into child abuse reported in 2022, as well as local independent investigations in specific cities.
“The government is working diligently to strengthen the law to ensure that these crimes are properly reported and investigated,” the spokesman added.
The dispute erupted after Musk made inflammatory claims against Starmer over his role in prosecuting those accountable for the scandal.
In recent months, the technology billionaire has been increasingly criticizing the British government, comparing it to Joseph Stalin’s Russia. He backed Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and last month backed Germany’s far-right AfD.
On Thursday, Musk wrote on his social media site X: “In the UK, serious crimes such as rape require consent from the Crown Prosecution Service for police to charge suspects. Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to abuse young girls without ever being brought to justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013.”
But it was Starmer, who was director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013, who began prosecuting the Rochdale grooming gang during his final yr in office, shortly after the Greater Manchester scandal first got here to light.
In addition, Starmer has introduced changes to the best way the CPS investigates sexual abuse to make sure more perpetrators are held to account. The reforms also made it possible to review historical matters.
Musk claimed that Security Secretary Jess Phillips “refused to investigate rape gangs” in a bid to guard Starmer after a report emerged this week saying the federal government had rejected Oldham Council’s request for a Home Office-led inquiry into the matter historical sexual abuse of kids in the town.
According to GB News, Phillips said in a letter to local authorities that she believed it ought to be as much as the local government “to decide whether to commission a local investigation into child sexual abuse, rather than government intervention.”
Officials confirmed that the federal government believed local authorities were best placed to commission local inquiries, citing precedent surrounding inquiries in Rotherham and Telford, other towns affected by gang sexual abuse of kids.
In addition, the watchdog accountable for inspecting police forces in England and Wales, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Emergency Services, is conducting an independent review into child sexual abuse in Greater Manchester, including the conduct of police and 10 councils dealing with such matters.
The SpaceX founder also called for the discharge from prison of far-right activist Tommy Robinson – founding father of the English Defense League and former member of the British National Party – and sent 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 pleading guilty to contempt of court by repeating false claims a few Syrian refugee.
Downing Street declined to comment on Musk’s latest outburst on Thursday, with one official saying the prime minister was focused on governing.
It was the newest in a series of private attacks on Starmer by the billionaire after he called him a “two-tier Keir” during last summer’s unrest and confirmed a preferred online theory that right-wing activists are treated more harshly by police than people from ethnic minorities within the UK.
The Home Office said: “No child should ever experience violence or sexual abuse. “Anyone responsible for children’s well-being must learn from past mistakes and do everything possible to prevent future failures.”
