2 hours ago
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Good morning. One of the reasons why Shabana Mahmood was appointed home secretary was because, as justice secretary, when the Tories came at her with a “two-tier justice” attack line that was being enthusiastically embraced by the rightwing media, she saw them off swiftly and effectively (essentially, by coopting the argument and responding). Today she is performing a similar rebuttal operation on the grooming gangs inquiry, which is another area where the Daily Mail/GB News etc are on the warpath and the government is floundering.
Here is the Mail’s splash.
‘Chaos’ might be a bit strong, but it’s not wholly unreasonable as a description of what is happening. Keir Starmer announced a national grooming gangs inquiry in June (having previously opposed the idea). Any inquiry like this will only be worth doing if it commands the trust of survivors. The government has not chosen a chair yet, or agreed terms of reference. But it has an oversight panel including around 30 survivors, and over the last three days at least three of them have resigned, complaining about the likely candidates for chair, suggestions that the inquiry will be extended to cover other child abuse, not just grooming gangs, and concerns about the ethnicity of offenders being downplayed. One of two reported candidates for the chair’s post has now pulled out, leaving Jim Gamble, a former police officer and former head the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command centre as the only person being tipped for the top job. This is problematic because some survivors are opposed to someone with a police background having that role, and the Conservatives are calling for a judge to be put in charge.
To compound the problem, Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, told MPs yesterday that claims that the scope of the inquiry might be widened were false. She said:
We are progressing as swiftly as thoroughness allows. Misinformation undermines this process. Allegations of intentional delay, lack of interest and a widening or dilution of the inquiry’s scope are false.
Fiona Goddard, one of the survivors who has left the oversight panel, last night accused Phillips of lying and said she should resign.
All this would be awkward on any day. But it’s PMQs, which means Keir Starmer will be facing Kemi Badenoch, who is personally invested in the grooming gangs story and who believes Starmer only ordered a national inquiry because of Tory pressure on this issue at the start of the year.
And that is where Mahmood comes in. In an article for the Times, she promises that the inquiry will “never be watered down on my watch”. She says:
It was with a heavy heart, in recent days, I learnt that some members have decided to step away from the group. Should they wish to return, the door will always remain open to them. But even if they do not, I owe it to them — and the country — to answer some of the concerns that they have raised.
Firstly, this inquiry is not, and will never be, watered down on my watch. Its scope will not change, and nor will its intent. It will be robust and rigorous. It will direct and oversee local investigations, with the power to compel witnesses and summon evidence.
Secondly, this inquiry will focus on grooming gangs — and that will not change.
Thirdly, it will explicitly examine the ethnicity and religion of the offenders.
She has also written for GB News.
Will this close down the issue ahead of PMQs? Probably not. But, just as with “two-tier justice”, Mahmood has shrunk the space available for the Tories on an issue they thought they could own.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.
After 12.30pm: Angela Rayner is due to make a personal statement to the Commons following her resignation as deputy PM. (According to Politico, it will be a defence of her record, not an attack on the government.)
Afternoon: Starmer hosts summit with leaders from the western Balkans to discuss dealing with illegal migraton.
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