Starmer’s Grooming Gangs Inquiry in Crisis as Chairman Candidate Quits
Sir Keir Starmer’s grooming gangs inquiry has been plunged into fresh turmoil after one of the candidates to lead it withdrew from the process, a day after two gang victims quit the liaison panel amid worries of a cover-up. The Telegraph has more.
Annie Hudson, a former director of children’s services for Lambeth, is understood to have told survivors on Tuesday that she no longer wanted to be considered after recent media coverage.
Her decision comes after two victims of the gangs – Fiona Goddard and Ellie-Ann Reynolds – quit the survivor liaison panel on Monday, saying that officials were not listening to them.
The pair also criticised the choice of a former social worker and police chief for the role of chairman, claiming that it was inappropriate to have establishment insiders from two professions previously involved in cover-ups of grooming scandals.
In her resignation letter, Ms Goddard said: “Having a police officer or social worker leading the inquiry would once again be letting services mark their own homework.
“The shortlisting of these potential chairs shows the Government’s complete lack of understanding of the level of corruption and failings involved in this scandal.”
Ms Hudson’s decision leaves only Jim Gamble, a former head of the Royal Ulster Constabulary special branch in Belfast, as a candidate. Final interviews were being conducted this week.
Labour MPs and peers are increasingly concerned at the apparent delays in setting up the inquiry into the institutional handling of sexual abuse of children by gangs. No timetable has yet been set out and it has no chairman five months after it was announced.
Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham and a longstanding campaigner on sexual abuse of women and girls, has written to ministers urging them to ensure the inquiry begins its work “as soon as possible.”
She said that there was as yet “no clarity on its scope, its remit, its terms of reference or the resources at its disposal”.
She told the Telegraph: “A lot of hope and trust is riding on the Government’s inquiry. We need to see a timetable of delivery and terms of reference to make sure our faith is still well placed.”
Lord Glasman, an influential Labour peer and founder of the Blue Labour group, said: “Starmer must set out a timeline for this inquiry as a matter of the highest priority.”
Downing Street denied the inquiry was in crisis, despite Ms Hudson’s withdrawal.
Worth reading in full.
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Elizabeth Harper is the third survivor to resign from the panel. You can read her resignation letter here;
https://x.com/snatched1400/status/1980633722656550943
Patrick Christys nails it. The Khant is shamelessly lying, 100%;
”‘People in positions of power are trying to stop the public from knowing how many Pakistani Muslim men raped young white girls.’
Patrick Christys blasts London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has been accused of being involved in hiding evidence of grooming gangs in London.”
https://x.com/GBNEWS/status/1980397174757171637
Just imagine if the Uniparty government had proposed the Post Office inquiry would be chaired by a director of Fujitsu and a director of the Post Office, because they are the only people who have the knowledge and experience of what went wrong. This is the justification this useless bunch of ministers and MPs (including Barry Gardiner on Michelle Dewberry) are trying to give for having a police officer and a social services director on the short list. My god, they are a bunch of tin eared pathetic idiots.
Barry Gardiner I can understand as he is a smug, self satisfied leftie moron but am surprised Michelle is taking that line.
It was Gardiner on Dewbs show saying it not Michelle herself. Gardiner was the ignorant twat on Friday evening who claimed Putin was stalling on any peace talks because he wanted to mount an offensive before Winter arrived when anyone with common sense could tell him that Winter, along with Summer, are the fighting seasons in Ukraine due to the rasputitza Spring and Autumn mud.
Chaired by an ex policeman? You’re having a giraffe, right?
In a tin bath.
Sometimes, I feel a bit sorry for the denizens of the Anti-White Party. Because not only do they hate the English people to the point of stupidity, they’re also blitheringly incompetent.
Agree, but it seems blitheringly incompetent and arrogant at the same time
How much worse can this get?
It’s far to late in the day. The demographic of the country has changed so much that large parts of our towns and cities are now nothing more than enclaves of people from cultures alien to the indigenous population, with medieval attitudes to women we abandoned a century or more ago. Good luck to any enquiry taking that on without being dragged down the road of Islamophobia and racism. What should happen is not what will happen!
…and still it goes on. Nothing is being done to stop these men picking up and raping these young girls. Are the police and the authority still turning an bling eye? Even an enquiry – if it ever starts will take 3 years. How many more children will be abused in this time?
Much platitudinous tripe being spouted by Labour politicians, they don’t even know the purpose of such inquiries, which is not to get justice for victims, it is to stop it from happening again.
It is a “systems” issue, no knowledge of the current system is required, the Civil Service is full of people with no knowledge (most are recruited after uni), just establish what the system should be, and see how badly the current system performed.
Okay, I’ll do it, and I promise to be impartial.