Latest news with #nationalInquiry
The Sun
18-06-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Don't assume Labour has learnt from rape gangs scandal – now it's targeting criticism of Islam in free speech crackdown
THIS week will forever be remembered as the point at which Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Government jumped on what they once dismissed as the so-called 'bandwagon of the far right'. For much of the past six months, Labour ministers and MPs have lined up to criticise people calling for a national inquiry into the mostly Pakistani-Muslim rape gangs as 'far right' and 'extremist'. 2 2 Or, in the words of Labour MP Lucy Powell, blowing a 'little trumpet' and a 'dog-whistle'. But now, after months of relentless pressure, the Government has finally been forced to recognise what was always obvious to everybody else in this country — that we need a national inquiry to explore how on Earth the mass rape of our children was ever allowed to happen, and to get those girls, and their families, the truth, justice and answers they deserve. But if you think that's where the story ends and Labour has now come to its senses then you'd be very much mistaken. Because on the same day Labour committed to a major inquiry into the rape gangs, something else deeply sinister took place. No doubt hoping few people would notice, Starmer and the Labour Party pushed forward with their plans to impose a dogmatic and dangerous new definition of 'Islamophobia' on the country. This move could stifle free speech and debate about not just the rape gangs but a whole array of closely related issues, including the growing role and impact of Islam on our national life and politics. Authoritarian society Labour's new working group on Islamophobia has launched a 'call for evidence', asking people to help it develop a definition that they say 'will help ministers and other relevant bodies understand what constitutes unacceptable treatment and prejudice against Muslim communities'. But what this will create, mark my words, is the very opposite of the kind, tolerant and pluralistic society that its supporters talk about. On the contrary, it will usher us into an authoritarian society where our language and views about Islam will be heavily policed and curtailed. What am I talking about, exactly? National inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal finally ordered by Keir Starmer in another Labour U-turn Well, to make sense of this new dark turn in British politics, you need to go back to the original definition of 'Islamophobia' that was put forward, and which the Labour Party supported, by an All Party Parliamentary Group of MPs in 2018. Involving the likes of Tory grandee Dominic Grieve — a man who was so committed to free speech in this country that he relentlessly demanded a second referendum on Brexit — the report defined 'Islamophobia' as being 'rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness'. But what on Earth does this mean, you might ask? What counts as targeting 'expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness'? Anything that will be perceived as 'Islamophobic' by pro-Muslim campaigners and their allies on the radical woke Left, that's what. In fact, astonishingly, that earlier definition endorsed by Labour specifically mentioned discussing the rape gangs and the grooming gang scandal as an example of so-called 'Islamophobia'. It actually described the grooming gangs, which we now know are disproportionately more likely to involve men of Pakistani-Muslim origin, as a 'subtle form of anti-Muslim racism', and 'a modern-day iteration' of 'age-old stereotypes and tropes about Islam and Muslims'. Many of these measures, definitions and laws look more at home in North Korea than Britain. Matt Goodwin Indeed, for much of the past ten years many left-wing activists, journalists and politicians have argued that even discussing the rape gangs was an example of so-called 'anti-Muslim hatred' or 'Islamophobia'. This, alongside Starmer's concerted efforts to brand anybody who opposes mass immigration and wanted an inquiry into the rape gangs as 'far right', is exactly why so many local councils, police officers, social workers and more shied away from investigating the scandal to begin with. They feared being tainted with the 'Islamophobic' or 'racist' brush. And it's not just about the rape gangs. That same dodgy definition of 'Islamophobia', in 2018, also suggested that talking about the alleged demographic threat that some people feel is posed to Western nations by the rise of Islam could also be considered 'Islamophobic'. Here in the UK, my own research suggests that because of mass immigration and different birth rates among different groups, by the year 2100 roughly one in five of all people in the UK will be following Islam, while potentially close to one in three young people, under the age of 40, will be Muslim by the end of this century. If the original definition of 'Islamophobia', which Labour MPs backed, is to be believed then merely even debating these profound and unprecedented demographic shifts could be considered 'Islamophobic'. Sharia law And what about pointing to some of the negative effects of these changes that we can already see emerging in our politics today, such as the rise of sectarian Muslim MPs in the House of Commons spending more time focusing on what is happening in Gaza, or campaigning for a new airport in Pakistan, than wanting to fix problems in their own constituency? The original definition, overseen by Wes Streeting and another diehard anti-Brexit activist, Anna Soubry, specifically said that discussing 'conspiracies about Muslim entryism in politics, government or other societal institutions' could be considered 'Islamophobic'. So would we not be allowed to express our opposition to this kind of divisive, sectarian politics or voice concern about the fact, as a survey has shown, that 40 per cent of British Muslims would support a 'Muslim-only' political party, while roughly one third would back the imposition of a parallel Sharia law system in Britain? What all this is pushing us into, I believe, is a chilling Orwellian world where we will become unable to criticise Islam or point to negative changes that are happening within our society because of these demographic shifts. Look, too, at how the freedom to criticise Islam has been restricted through the case of Hamit Coskun, a man who burned a Koran and was found guilty of committing a 'racially aggravated public order offence' during what was a peaceful protest. In this case, the Public Order Act was essentially used to crack down on legitimate public protest and criticism of Islam, effectively reviving long-abolished blasphemy laws and undermining the notion — long central to British life — that no religion is above the law. These islands, once upon a time, were the home of free speech, free expression and individual liberty. Matt Goodwin You might remember, too, even if Starmer never talks about it while telling Vice President JD Vance we have no free speech crisis in Britain, that we still have a school teacher from Batley, West Yorks, in hiding in Britain who happened to upset local Muslims by showing a picture they happened to find 'offensive'. And make no mistake: this war on free speech is not just about the dogmatic definition of Islamophobia which Starmer and his Labour Government are trying to smuggle into our laws, institutions and country through the back door. It is also about the proliferation of hate laws and so-called 'non-crime hate incidents' in this country. These are used to suppress free speech by encouraging people to report their fellow citizens to the police when they merely perceive one of their 'protected characteristics', such as religion, race or sexual orientation, to have been offended in some way. Think I'm exaggerating? Since 2014, police authorities have recorded more than 133,000 of these dystopian measures, which in turn chill free speech across British society by warning others not to say anything that might be considered 'offensive'. Vigorous debate And it is also about how terms such as 'far right' and 'Islamo- phobia' are today being inflated and expanded to such an extent by the likes of Starmer and Yvette Cooper that they have not only become utterly meaningless but are routinely used to try to shut down debate and discredit anybody who challenges the policies of the ruling class, such as mass uncontrolled immigration, our broken borders, or, as we saw earlier this year, the Pakistani-Muslim rape gangs. These islands, once upon a time, were the home of free speech, free expression and individual liberty. They were a place where people could join together and have a vigorous debate about what was happening in their country, even if this offended others. But increasingly, today, we are ruled by people who can sense their grip on power is now under threat and are using whatever is at their disposal to try to control and curtail the national conversation, to narrow the parameters of what is considered acceptable to discuss. I don't know about you but this is neither the Britain I recognise nor the kind of country I particularly want to live in. Many of these measures, definitions and laws look more at home in North Korea than Britain. If the rape gang scandal has taught us anything then it is that we must reject all these speech codes and the policing of everyday language. We must return to the traditions of free speech, free expression, individual liberty and debate that have long defined these islands — irrespective of who they might offend.
Telegraph
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour's obsession with ‘Islamophobia' will put more girls in danger
Labour politicians are frantically trying to convince us that they take the grooming gangs scandal seriously. I do hope they'll forgive my cynicism, but I don't believe a word of it. Because, whether they realise it or not, their Government will soon be giving grooming gangs a huge helping hand. Here's how. On Monday – the very same day that Sir Keir Starmer finally bowed to pressure to hold a national inquiry – the Government's 'Islamophobia Working Group' quietly sent out an email to unidentified figures, inviting them to help it in its efforts to draw up a new official definition of 'Islamophobia' – which it will ultimately present to ministers to consider. We'll just have to wait and see what definition this group comes up with, but we'd better hope it's not the same as the one advocated by Islamophobia Defined, a 2018 report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims. That report stated that 'age-old stereotypes and tropes about Islam', such as 'paedophilia' and 'Asian grooming gangs', serve to 'heighten vulnerability of Muslims to hate crimes'. But hang on just a moment. Are 'Asian grooming gangs' really no more than a 'stereotype'? And, if so, does that mean that even talking about the grooming gangs scandal is Islamophobic? At any rate, you may or may not be astonished to learn that that 2018 report was endorsed by local authorities in various parts of the country – including Oxford, Newcastle and Calderdale in West Yorkshire – where 'Asian grooming gangs' had previously operated. You may also be fascinated to learn that the report carried an approving foreword by the then Conservative MP Dominic Grieve – who is now the chairman of the aforementioned 'Islamophobia Working Group'. A group which, incidentally, contains Baroness Shaista Gohir, who in 2013 wrote a report arguing that the 'media coverage being given to British Pakistani offenders' was 'disproportionate', and that this was helping to 'fuel racism and Islamophobia'. To be clear: I'm not complaining that the 'Islamophobia Working Group' contains the wrong people. I'm complaining that it exists at all. Because there's a serious risk that introducing a new official definition of 'Islamophobia' will help grooming gangs evade justice in future. Put it like this: the police's treatment of previous victims was often disgraceful – as the national inquiry, we must hope, will fully lay bare. Future victims, however, may be scared to even report the crime for fear that they themselves will be arrested. They'll be understandably worried that, armed with a new definition of 'Islamophobia', police will charge them with peddling racist 'tropes'. As a result, these future victims may stay silent. Labour's obsession with 'Islamophobia', therefore, will put more British girls in danger, and that obsession is widespread enough on the Left as it is. In April 2023, Suella Braverman – the then Tory home secretary – wrote an article for a newspaper in which she said the grooming gangs were 'groups of men, almost all British-Pakistani'. For this she was furiously condemned by self-proclaimed anti-racists. Nick Lowles, the chief executive of Hope not Hate, declared that 'child sexual abuse has long been a trope' deployed by 'the far Right in their Islamophobic narratives about the Muslim community'. By 'singling out British Pakistani men', he went on, Mrs Braverman 'irresponsibly stirs up hate'. I've no doubt that saying this made Mr Lowles feel wonderfully noble and righteous. But, as Baroness Casey put it this week, in her excoriating new report on the grooming gangs, many organisations turned a blind eye to the mass rape of children by British Pakistani men 'for fear of appearing racist'. Bearing that in mind, what do we think will happen once Labour brings in a new definition of 'Islamophobia'? Will such organisations be more likely to speak up in future? Call me a pessimist, but I have a funny feeling that they won't. In fact, I think they'll be even less likely than ever. All of which is why Sir Keir Starmer must urgently drop this idiotically misconceived venture. We already have laws against racial discrimination. There is no need to add special protections for one group in particular. Especially when they might inadvertently help to protect not just ordinary, innocent Muslims, but child-rapists. The Government's job is to prevent such scandals from happening, not prevent them from being exposed.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Keir Starmer to launch national inquiry into grooming gangs
Keir Starmer will launch a national inquiry into grooming gangs after receiving the recommendations of an independent report on the scandal. The prime minister said a new statutory inquiry was 'the right thing to do' based on the findings submitted by Louise Casey, who has carried out a months-long inquiry into the abuse of young girls. Speaking to reporters travelling with him to the G7 summit in Canada, Starmer said Casey recommended 'a national inquiry on the basis of what she has seen'. 'I have read every single word of her report and I am going to accept her recommendation. That is the right thing to do on the basis of what she has put in her audit,' he said. 'I shall now implement her recommendations.' Asked to set out a timeline for the inquiry, Starmer said: 'It will be statutory under the Inquiries Act. That will take a bit of time to sort out exactly how that works, and we will set that out in an orderly way.' Starmer has previously resisted pressure for a new national inquiry into grooming gangs, and said earlier this year it would delay justice for victims. He called for ministers to instead focus on implementing the recommendations of previous reviews. Casey was asked to carry out a three-month national review on the scale and extent of grooming gangs in January after producing a report into sexual abuse in Rotherham. She was tasked with examining data not available to the initial national inquiry led by Alexis Jay, and to look into the ethnicity and demographics of abusers and victims, as well as 'the cultural and societal drivers for this type of offending, including among different ethnic groups'. Starmer said on Saturday that Casey's 'position when she started the audit was that there was not a real need for a national inquiry', but that she had changed her mind after reviewing the evidence. In parallel to Casey's review, the government asked Tom Crowther KC, who led an investigation in Telford, to help devise a model for a series of similar investigations in five towns where girls were abused, including Oldham. Ministers came under pressure over grooming gangs last year after Elon Musk spotlighted the government's decision to refuse Oldham council's request for a second national inquiry. The US billionaire's flurry of tweets on the subject brought the scandal back into public consciousness. On Friday, seven men who groomed two vulnerable teenage girls in Rochdale were found guilty of multiple sex offences after a long-running trial. The court heard the men subjected the girls to years of misery and expected them to have sex with them 'whenever and wherever they wanted'. Casey's 2015 review into the scandal in Rotherham said there had been an 'archaic culture of sexism, bullying and discomfort around race', with councillors and staff fearing being labelled racist if they mentioned the ethnicity of perpetrators. In response to the announcement of a new national inquiry, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, said: 'Keir Starmer doesn't know what he thinks unless an official report has told him so … I've been repeatedly calling for a full national inquiry since January. It's about time he recognised he made a mistake and apologise for six wasted months.'
Telegraph
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Daily T: ‘I don't trust Labour one bit' – grooming victim's father on new inquiry
Keir Starmer's decision to U-turn on the launch of a national inquiry into the historic sexual abuse of thousands of young girls hasn't been met with the praise he might have hoped. The PM's announcement followed a report by Baroness Casey, which found that police and council leaders failed to act against Asian grooming gangs due to fears of being called racist. But has the Government already lost the trust of victims after months of resisting calls and saying Tories calling for the national inquiry were 'jumping on the bandwagon of the far-Right'? Earlier today, during a press conference in London by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, victims and campaigners of the grooming gang scandal criticised Starmer's inquiry for not going far enough. Camilla spoke to Badenoch about why the issue is so personal to her and what the Tories plan to push Labour on in the next stage of the inquiry's timeline. And Tim met to Marlon West whose daughter Scarlett was groomed from age 14 to 18 and said he isn't 'reassured one little bit' that the authorities will face accountability.
The Independent
17-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Badenoch ‘not doing politics' on grooming gangs as report author urges ‘calm'
Kemi Badenoch has insisted she is not politicising the grooming gangs scandal after the author of a major review on the issue said she was 'disappointed' with the Opposition's approach. Speaking at a press conference alongside grooming gang survivors and campaigners, the Conservative leader said was 'not doing politics now', but criticised people who sought to 'tone police those who are pointing out when something has gone wrong'. She said: 'I do think that we should take the politics out of it. But who was it that said when we raised this issue that we were pandering to the far right? That's what brought the politics into it.' Her comments follow an interview in which Baroness Louise Casey told the BBC she was 'disappointed' by the Opposition's response to her review of the grooming gangs scandal. She said: 'We need to change some laws, we need to do a national criminal investigation, we need to get on with a national inquiry with local footprint in it and ideally wouldn't it be great if everybody came behind that and backed you?' She added: 'I felt the Opposition could have just been a bit, you know, yes we will all come together behind you. 'Maybe there's still time to do that. I think it's just so important that they do.' Mrs Badenoch said her party did back a national inquiry into the scandal, and had been calling for one 'for six months'. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp, who also spoke at Tuesday's press conference, called for 'the people who are responsible for covering this up' to face prosecution for misconduct in public office alongside the inquiry. He said the Conservatives wanted the inquiry to take two years, focus on 'all 50 towns affected' and 'look at the role of ethnicity in the cover-up'. But appearing in front of the Commons Home Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning, Baroness Casey urged people to 'keep calm' on the subject of ethnicity. Pointing out that her report had said data on the ethnicity of perpetrators was 'incomplete and unreliable', she said: 'If you look at the data on child sexual exploitation, suspects and offenders, it's disproportionately Asian heritage. 'If you look at the data for child abuse, it is not disproportionate, and it is white men. 'So again, just (a) note to everybody really, outside here rather than in here, let's just keep calm here about how you interrogate data and what you draw from it.' Baroness Casey's report, published on Monday, found the ethnicity of perpetrators had been 'shied away from', with data not recorded for two-thirds of offenders. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs that officials had dodged the issue of ethnicity among groups of sex offenders for fear of being called racist, and called for 'much more robust national data'. Baroness Casey also told the Home Affairs Committee that a national inquiry should be done within three years, rather than the two called for by the Conservatives. She believed three years would be 'achievable' to carry out the national and local inquiries. The crossbench peer also urged for local areas to 'think carefully' about not being open to scrutiny and to change. On the five local inquiries announced in January, she said 'only Oldham bit the bullet', adding: 'My understanding is nobody else volunteered for that. So that tells you something, doesn't it? It tells you something, and it doesn't tell you something I certainly would want to hear if I was a victim.' A Downing Street spokesman said the format and chairperson of the inquiry would be set out at a later date, adding that it would have the power to compel people to give evidence. The spokesman said: 'We want to get on with this, but we must take the time to sort out exactly how that works and get the process right. 'But to be absolutely clear, the grooming scandal was one of the greatest failures in our country's history, with vulnerable people let down time and again, and the Prime Minister is determined to finally get them justice.' He added that the Government had accepted all of Baroness Casey's recommendations, including making it mandatory for the police to collect data on the ethnicity of suspects.
