The rape and sexual abuse of young girls was so widespread for so long in so many British towns and cities that it is only right Sir Keir Starmer should belatedly order a U-turn and announce an inquiry. It is a tragedy, however, that the PM waited this long to address the national scandal, and did so only after a long campaign by activists, victims and papers like the Express. As recently as January, Sir Keir had the temerity to suggest those of us concerned about the systematic abuse of vulnerable girls were “calling for inquiries because they want to jump on a bandwagon of the far right”. That utterly misguided, deeply offensive, thinking is something the PM will have to square with himself.
For years, we now know, such exploitation of vulnerable girls by predominantly Asian grooming gangs took place under what amounted to the protection of police and local authorities who clearly considered the rights of victims as less important than community cohesion and, in many cases, blamed their lifestyles. That it has taken so long for these uncomfortable facts to be brought kicking and screaming into the light is a scandal in itself and victims and their families deserve nothing less than the full truth.
As does the country, if we are to retain any semblance of trust in those we consent to police our communities and protect our children. It is now also suggested that some crimes were committed by asylum seekers and illegal migrants with no right to remain in the UK. This will rightly bring a fresh wave of anger about the lassitude of the authorities.
When Elon Musk and Nigel Farage, among others, brought up the racial dimension of these crimes, they were accused of “dog whistle politics” and labelled far-right.
We are lucky that the world’s richest man and Britain’s most uncompromising politician were broad-shouldered enough to take the weight of criticism from the liberal chattering classes who would clearly rather sip their tea in blissful ignorance than countenance that such a travesty taking place under the very noses of social services and police.
Not every public servant was guilty of turning a blind eye – we know many tried to blow the whistle and were ridiculed, demoted and sidelined as a result. But enough did that, institutionally, the system shut down any dissent.
This in itself must be a focus of the public inquiry. So what has changed the PM’s mind, finally? We must look at Reform UK’s striking lead in the polls and the efforts of the indefatigable Dame Louise Casey to highlight the injustice.
But if you want to know why predators have been allowed to get away with this for so long, look no further than the fact this was a crime that targeted predominantly working class women and children – and has been too long ignored because of that.
It’s easy for middle class left-wingers to ignore their pain after buying into the wrong-headed ideological creed that diversity is our strength. Thanks to a populist party like Reform, working class people are now getting their voice back and can protest strongly at this exploitation.
Indeed, it is only recently that the Home Office has agreed to publish the ethnicity of criminals. Between 2021 and 2023, more than 100,000 foreign nationals were convicted of serious crimes in England and Wales, including rape, robbery, and drug offences.
Home Office figures for 2024 revealed 19,244 foreign criminals were living in communities while awaiting deportation, up from 17,907 at the last general election.
For sexual offences, Afghans and Eritreans head the league of shame, more than 20 times the rate for British criminals. Shamefully, these figures were only published thanks to Nigel Farage making inroads into formerly Labour voting communities by pointing out the obvious correlation between some ethnic communities and sex crimes.
Baroness Casey’s furious report out this week underlines the fact that she believes that there has been a cover-up of the full scale of these crimes by predominantly Labour politicians, civil servants and the police.
Having read the report, the PM has had no choice but to enact the national inquiry that right-wing political parties have been asking for.
It is time also for community leaders to stand up and say this exploitation is not acceptable in our country or anywhere else. No one wants to exacerbate tension between ethnic groups, but it has been too long the excuse that has allowed the sexual abuse of young women by predominantly Asian gangs.
Our first duty must be to protect the most vulnerable in our society, no matter how upsetting it might be to those who would paper over the cracks in their own interest, and hopefully this long-awaited national inquiry will go some way towards doing that.