10 hours ago
Starmer should quit over grooming gang scandal, says survivor
Sir Keir Starmer should quit as Prime Minister over his failings around the grooming gang scandal, a campaigning survivor has said.
Sammy Woodhouse, who helped expose the Rotherham abuse scandal, said she was disgusted by Sir Keir's conduct in recent months, adding that any politician who had rejected calls for a national inquiry should resign.
Ms Woodhouse was just 14 years old when she was groomed and raped by 24-year-old Arshad Hussain, who was the leader of a child exploitation gang.
She eventually spoke about her ordeal publicly and her testimony helped bring about Prof Jay's inquiry, which revealed that at least 1,400 children had been abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
Her abuser was later jailed for 35 years and she became a leading campaigner fighting to expose the national grooming gang scandal.
Speaking to the Planet Normal podcast, Ms Woodhouse told Allison Pearson of her anger at the way the Prime Minister had initially dismissed the need for a national inquiry and had accused those in support of jumping on a far-Right bandwagon.
She said: 'Well, I'm not far-Right and I'm not jumping on a bandwagon. He is just a coward. At the end of the day we're talking about children being groomed, abused, raped, tortured, trafficked, murdered, impregnated, criminalised.
'We are talking about the most heinous crimes that could ever happen, and he wants to just throw these stupid comments in, that we're far-Right and racist, it's absolutely disgusting.
'I don't think he should be prime minister. People are asking me: 'Do you want an apology from him?' Well, no, I don't want an apology. I want a resignation.
'All these politicians that voted no to an inquiry should not be politicians. It's absolutely disgusting that they still are. I think they've just shown their true colours.'
Ms Woodhouse said her abuser and rapist believed he was untouchable because people in authority were frightened of being perceived as racist or Islamophobic.
She said: 'I was never treated as a victim. I was treated as his mistress, as his girlfriend, and as though, you know, the whole thing was consensual.
'Pretty much all the children were treated like that. If you look at my files, he was invited to medical appointments.'
She said: 'In my own files it shows that an anti-racism coordinator was actually attending my meetings.'
She also alleged that one of the police officers investigating her case – who was later killed – had bought drugs from her abuser.
Ms Woodhouse told the podcast that the Government should ensure that any convicted rapists or child abusers who hold dual citizenship are deported once they have served their sentence.
She said: 'I think we have a very weak government, and we have people – and I think it's probably worse now than what it was back in my day, as a child – that don't want to upset the Pakistani Muslim community.
'Now, I don't care what race you are, what religion you are, what gender you are, if you are raping children, you should be prosecuted. And if you're not from this country, get 'em out.'
