Keir Starmer backs Jess Phillips amid growing backlash in grooming gangs row
Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister offered a strong defence of Ms Phillips, and insisted his colleague was 'properly engaging' with survivors of the grooming gang scandal
Keir Starmer threw his weight behind under-fire Jess Phillips on Thursday after the four women who pulled out of the grooming gangs inquiry said they could return if the safeguarding minister resigned.
A series of ministers rallied to Ms Phillips' defence with one saying she has been a "lifelong advocate and champion for young girls who've been abused." Health Secretary Wes Streeting also praised her work.
Today, a Government source said it could take "months" to find a chair for the grooming gangs inquiry. Ministers are battling to get someone to head up the probe after the leading candidate, former deputy chief constable Jim Gamble, pulled out.
An insider said the Government would re-engage with the victims and survivors on the type of person they want to lead the inquiry. But the source admitted it could take months to appoint the right chair.
In a letter to the Home Secretary, the victims and survivors said that Ms Phillips had labelled some of their claims “untrue” and that they had provided evidence to the contrary.
READ MORE: Potential grooming gangs chair accuses Kemi Badenoch of 'weaponising' inquiry
Speaking during a visit on Thursday, the PM said: “The most important thing in relation to the grooming gangs is that we have the national inquiry and that absolutely gets to the truth and to justice. Jess has been working on issues involving violence against women and girls for many, many years.”
Speaking at a separate event on AI, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy acknowledged that there had been “setbacks” this week but added that “we move forward”.
“The starting point is: this is hard. My drawing on 25 years of experience in public life, dealing with families experiencing pain, suffering, sometimes grief – and I’m thinking of in my career, scandals like Windrush, like Grenfell Tower – there often is not a uniform voice,” he told reporters.
He said it was “very tough” but that the PM had been clear that the inquiry will leave “no stone unturned” and that the background of the abusers including their ethnicity and religion “is absolutely on the table”.
Earlier the Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister suggested opposition to Ms Phillips stemmed from a misunderstanding over the scope of the inquiry. He explained: "The Government has been really clear about this, my understanding is the survivors were asked as part of the process, are there other aspects of child abuse, sexual abuse and group-based sexual abuse that should be considered, and even just asking that question made some survivors think hang on a minute this is going beyond the scope that was originally set out.
"Some survivors took from that that the scope was going to be broadened".
One of the women, Ellie-Ann Reynolds, said the final turning point for her was “the push to change the remit, to widen it in ways that downplay the racial and religious motivations behind our abuse”.
Ms Reynolds, Fiona Goddard, Elizabeth Harper and a woman signed only as “Jessica” state in the letter that there are five conditions that must be met for them to return to the advisory panel.
They call for victims to be able to speak freely without fear of reprisal, the inquiry’s scope to remain “laser-focused” on grooming gangs and the current victim liaison lead to be replaced by a mental health professional.