Keir Starmer tonight slapped down Sadiq Khan as he vowed the national grooming gangs inquiry will investigate rape-gang cases in London – despite the Mayor repeatedly playing down the scandal.
In a thinly-veiled swipe at the London Mayor, the Prime Minister said, ‘the national inquiry will leave no stone unturned wherever it is in the country.
‘Whether it’s in London or elsewhere I’ve always said where there’s evidence that could be investigated by the police, whether that’s looking at old cases or new cases, that should be the first priority.
‘My strong view is in these cases that if there’s evidence to put people before criminal courts that is the first step that should be taken’, he added.
Mr Khan has only very recently acknowledged the presence of grooming gangs in London.
He has even consistently refused to use the term ‘grooming gang‘ which some say has hindered efforts to support victims.
Detective turned police whistleblower, Maggie Oliver, went as far as to accuse Sir Sadiq of a ‘cover up’ over being in ‘denial’ about the existence and the scale of the problem in his city.
Just last month, he said cases in London are ‘far more complex’ than elsewhere in the country.
Sir Keir Starmer (pictured on November 21) tonight slapped down Sadiq Khan In a thinly-veiled swipe at the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan (pictured on October 17) has only very recently acknowledged the presence of grooming gangs in London
Denying the comparisons to grooming gangs, he said: ‘Those horrific cases [elsewhere] are not the sort of cases we’ve seen in London’.
This came two days after the Metropolitan Police said it would be reviewing 9,000 cases of organised child sexual exploitation in the capital.
This followed the national Casey review into the grooming gangs, which found it was far more widespread, organised and underreported than the Mayor previously admitted.
Scotland Yard said group-based offending in London was ‘particularly insidious and devastating in its profound impact on the children affected.
It is not just the Mayor of London who has struggled to come to terms with the industrial scale sexual exploitation of thousands of young women and girls across the country. It has been a thorny issue for Labour nationally.
Earlier this year, Sir Keir said he would not tolerate politicians jumping on the ‘bandwagon of the far right’ and those seeking a national inquiry were ‘desperate for attention.’
He ordered his MPs to vote against a national inquiry before then performing a humiliating u-turn and commissioning one. Lucy Powell, who is now the Deputy Leader, also said demanding for an inquiry was ‘dog whistle politics’ – comments she later apologised for.
The PM’s comments tonight signalled a shift that he may be more willing to confront the ‘toxic’ issue.
However, the national inquiry is still without a candidate to lead the panel attached to it, after a senior social worker spectacularly stepped down as a potential chair, saying in her resignation letter it was a ‘fearful environment’ amid accusations the Home Office had watered down the crucial panel.
Four other victims also dramatically quit the panel, engulfing the inquiry into chaos.
‘What’s the point in speaking up if we’re just going to be called liars?’ said victim Fiona Goddard who resigned in disgust.
How London goes will show whether the Prime Minister can overcome his critics who say he is failing to deliver the justice he promised.
