THE grooming gangs inquiry is in chaos after the Home Office admitted it will not get off the ground for months.
And a fifth survivor has quit the advisory panel with a call for safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to resign.
PM Sir Keir Starmer has given Ms Phillips his backing despite mounting criticism from victims.
The survivors slammed Ms Phillips as “unfit” to remain in post after warning she had dismissed their fears about the direction of the inquiry.
They were concerned that it should not be chaired by former police officer Jim Gamble given cops were blamed for covering up the initial rape scandal.
It saw Mr Gamble pull out as the government’s preferred and only candidate.
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The move leaves Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood casting for another chair.
Last night government sources said it would likely take months to appoint another inquiry boss.
It comes despite the government first promising the national probe last July.
In a blistering letter to Ms Mahmood, four of the survivors said: “Being publicly contradicted and dismissed by a government minister when you are a survivor telling the truth takes you right back to that feeling of not being believed all over again.
“It is a betrayal that has destroyed what little trust remained.”
