Sir Keir Starmer is today expected to defend his handling of the grooming gangs scandal amid mounting pressure for a public inquiry.
Whitehall sources said the PM will use a press conference this morning to justify his actions as director of public prosecutions more than a decade ago, which tech billionaire Elon Musk has claimed makes him ‘complicit’ in allowing the gangs’ activities to continue unchecked.
Sir Keir is expected to repeat comments from 2023 when he stressed he gave the ‘green light’ to the first prosecution of a gang of sexual predators in Rochdale.
But he has faced questions in recent days over a 2009 decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to drop a major case against an alleged grooming gang in Rochdale.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting yesterday hit back at Mr Musk’s ‘ridiculous’ criticism of the Government’s handling of the scandal.
In a series of media interviews, he accused Mr Musk of a ‘disgraceful smear’ against safeguarding minister Jess Phillips over her decision to reject calls for a Government-backed inquiry into the failure to tackle the activities of paedophile gangs operating in Oldham.
Mr Musk said last week Ms Phillips ‘deserves to be in prison’ for denying the request.
Keir Starmer is expected to defend his handling of the grooming gangs in a press conference today
Tesla founder Elon Musk accused the Prime Minister of being ‘complicit’ in allowing the gangs’ activities to continue
Sir Keir accused Mr Musk of a ‘disgraceful smear’ against safeguarding minister Jess Phillips for rejecting calls for a government-backed inquiry into the scandal
But Mr Streeting described his attacks on the PM and Ms Phillips as ‘ill-informed’, adding: ‘People like Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips have done the hard yards of actually locking up wife beaters, rapists, paedophiles.’
Writing in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday, Kemi Badenoch said an inquiry should ‘identify the bodies that failed as well as the individuals who facilitated or ignored these crimes so they can be removed from their roles’.
Nigel Farage also backed an inquiry – and said it was fair for Mr Musk to question what role, if any, Sir Keir had in decisions by the Crown Prosecution Service not to pursue serious allegations in Rochdale in 2009.
Mr Streeting said numerous inquiries had already been conducted – and it was now time to get on and implement the recommendations.
