Keir Starmer assaults unfold of ‘lies’ on grooming gangs

The prime minister has attacked politicians and activists “spreading lies and misinformation” over grooming gangs.

It comes after multi-billionaire Elon Musk accused Sir Keir Starmer of being “complicit within the rape of Britain” throughout his tenure as director of public prosecutions (DPP) for failing to deal with grooming gangs.

Senior Conservatives and Reform UK MPs have additionally spent the week calling for a nationwide inquiry into youngster sexual exploitation.

However Sir Keir stated: “Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as broad as attainable aren’t considering victims, they’re considering themselves.”

He stated the net debate had “crossed a line”, leading to threats in opposition to MPs, together with Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips.

Sir Keir went on to accuse the Tories of “leaping on a bandwagon” to realize consideration.

Conservative MPs had been “amplifying what the far-right is saying” on youngster sexual abuse after failing to behave “for 14 lengthy years”, he added.

Describing youngster sexual exploitation as “totally sickening”, Sir Keir defended his report in workplace as DPP – saying he tackled the problem “head on”.

Whereas DPP, Sir Keir launched a particular prosecutor for youngster abuse and sexual exploitation to supervise convictions in opposition to grooming gangs.

He additionally modified the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) steering to encourage police to analyze suspects in advanced sexual abuse circumstances and courtroom reforms geared toward making the method much less traumatic for victims.

“I modified the system as a result of I might see among the issues that had been going incorrect,” he instructed reporters.

Sir Keir stated he reopened circumstances, introduced the primary prosecution of an “Asian grooming gang” in Rochdale and known as for necessary reporting of kid sexual abuse.

“After I left workplace, we had the very best variety of youngster sexual abuse circumstances being prosecuted on report”, Sir Keir stated.

“The victims right here suffered horrible abuse,” he sid, “after which they weren’t listened to.”

Phillips had additionally “achieved a thousand instances extra” to guard victims of kid sexual abuse than these attacking her can “even dreamt about”, he stated.

Sir Keir didn’t title any of these he thought had been spreading lies, however his feedback adopted a collection of questions on Musk.

Over the previous week, the tech-entrepreneur has attacked the Labour authorities over the problem, utilizing his platform on his social media website X.

Musk accused Philips of being a “rape genocide apologist” and calling for her and Sir Keir be jailed.

On Monday, Musk began a ballot asking X customers to vote on whether or not “America ought to liberate the folks of Britain from their tyrannical authorities”.

Requested concerning the submit, Sir Keir selected to not reply.

Musk’s push to oust the PM might spark diplomatic hassle for Labour.

Alongside being one of many richest males on the planet, Musk can be a key adviser for US President-elect Donald Trump.

Musk has additionally used his platform to name for far-right activist Tommy Robinson to be launched from jail.

Robinson, whose actual title is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is presently serving an 18-month jail sentence for contempt of courtroom, after admitting he breached an injunction in opposition to repeating claims a couple of Syrian refugee schoolboy he misplaced a libel case in opposition to in 2021.

Sir Keir accused these “cheerleading” Robinson of not being considering justice and stated he wouldn’t tolerate dialogue and debate on lies.

“As soon as we lose the anchor that reality issues, within the strong debate that we should have, then we’re on a really slippery slope,” he stated.