Forensic failure - PMQs 30th April 2025

When will the Leader of the Opposition learn that the only way to get a straight answer out of Sir Keir Starmer is to give it to him?

Mrs Badenoch’s topic today was the explosive one of official cover-up in the ‘child rape gang scandal,’ as admitted in Parliament two days earlier by Jess Phillips MP. She noted that the initial commitment to a fresh public enquiry had been watered down to five local ones (without the legal power to compel witnesses), then further to merely providing resources for local authorities to use as they see fit. It is easy to suspect that the Government would like this river to run into the sands and evaporate.

To her question ‘Why will he not have a national inquiry?’ the PM replied ‘We have had a national inquiry’ and diverted the discussion into his past prosecutions of some offenders and the Conservatives’ failure to implement the recommendations of The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which – after eight years and several changes of Chair – delivered its final report in the Autumn of 2022.

‘These are just distraction tactics,’ said Kemi. Correct, and her job is to cut through his obscurantism. What she needed to do, and didn’t, was to say exactly why a fresh enquiry must happen: it should explore the wide penumbra surrounding the darkness of the ‘grooming gangs.’

One shadowy aspect is the virulent religious bigotry of some of the perpetrators. A child victim was told ‘we’re here to f*** all the white girls and f*** the government.’ This was reported to Parliament by Katie Lam MP (Con). Implicitly, ‘white’ here means ‘non-Muslim’ and so inferior, deserving nothing better than humiliation.

But ‘the government’ is also the target of a religion that does not recognise national boundaries and secular legislation. The Home Secretary herself said (24 February) ‘We are clear that the primary domestic terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism, which comprises three quarters of the MI5 caseload and 64% of those in custody for terrorism-connected offences.’

Until this challenge is publicly confronted by the authorities and the rule of Parliamentary law firmly reasserted it remains a great danger to our society. Fortunately most Muslims here are not extremists but their holy book and the accounts of their prophet’s witnesses contain passages that are unequivocal in their call for violence against unbelievers. This is why ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsa Ali is calling for a religious reformation in Islam, so that peace can be possible. If this country were still run by Christian fundamentalists we would be shunning bacon sandwiches and putting ‘witches’ – Satanists, New Age worshippers etc – to death. No more burnings in Smithfield market, thank you.

Another aspect of a putative second inquiry ought to be about official and political ‘cover-up’ in the places where these gangs have been, and still are, operating. The reason for the failure to act in what are mostly Labour-run areas is obvious, but the failure calls justice itself into question and threatens social cohesion in a country bound together by what should be impartial institutions. Untended, that infection may become a lethal gangrene for a Party that once fought for ordinary people.

Thirdly, since the PM’s grand plan for the UK is further devolution, it risks creating more opportunities for corruption and cover-up unless core values are enforced from the centre. There can be no political immunity from prosecution, neither for criminals nor for those with the power to intervene who culpably stand by passively, or even collude.

In blandly stating that an inquiry had already been conducted – one that was about child sexual abuse in general and how to tackle it – the PM was slithering away from those three most important issues.

It needed a barrister’s cross-examination skill to cut through to the hard truth. Kemi has a qualification in law through part-time study, but it is not enough for the rapier work required in the high court of Parliament. Starmer joked that after the London Marathon the shadow Justice Secretary (Robert Jenryck, a potential contender for the Tory leadership) was ‘still running’; perhaps the PM was mentally thanking his lucky stars that he was not facing Jenryck – a former solicitor and corporate lawyer – on this occasion. Instead, Mrs Badenoch boiled it all down to ‘better services under the Conservatives.’

Before we go on, it should be said that the potential ramifications of this scandal and related matters of sexual exploitation are not limited to one political party or to local affairs. There are dark historic rumours about Westminster itself – political figures protected, files lost. Could we have a thorough national Augean cleansing without triggering widespread unrest?

We now turn to other PMQ questions, grouped by political party:

Liberal Democrats: Clive Jones (Wokingham) is introducing a Bill to grant Parliament the final say on trade deals; his Party leader Ed Davey repeated the demand, requiring a yes or no response; both received a foggy procedural reply. Mr Davey also asked about the right to mental capacity assessment, for lack of which an autistic youngster had been exploited and murdered; Starmer sympathised. Eastleigh’s Leigh Jarvis criticised the performance and expense of Southern Water; the PM referred to the new Water Act, the banning of bonuses and so on. Paul Kohler (Wimbledon) deplored loud music on public transport; Starmer chided the Conservatives for laughing. Layla Moran (Oxford and Abingdon) spoke of the misuse of Non-Disclosure Agreements to gag victims of workplace sexual misconduct; the PM said it would be looked at.

Conservatives: Sir Bernard Jenkin advertised tickets for Parliament’s own VE Day celebration next week. Mark Francois asked for support for a memorial to Dame Vera Lynn, the ‘Forces’ Sweetheart’ who the freethinking PM said was ‘sewn into our nation’s soul.’ In this context it is worth remembering that when Parliament last adjourned someone asked why the traditional term ‘Easter’ had been omitted. Also the DUP’s Jim Shannon was urging a posthumous VC for the SAS war hero Blair Mayne (at a time when other SAS soldiers face possible prosecution for alleged military misconduct; by contrast some IRA murderers had previously been given ‘letters of comfort’ to assure them that they would not be put on trial.) We recall too how the Lord Chancellor turned her back to the Monarch at the King’s Speech last July. Straws in the wind.

DUP: Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) criticised the Government’s Net Zero policy. The PM interpreted Tony Blair’s recent comments as support for carbon capture, whereas this writer sees ACLB’s intervention as a misleading reassurance – just before the 1st May local elections – that Labour is capable of listening to the people.

Reform: Nigel Farage (Clacton) asked whether the PM’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ trafficking illegal immigrants had merely been a slogan. In the course of a barrage counterattack Starmer said Reform had opposed his Borders Bill; this characteritically slid over the reasons why, which included that the Bill cancels the Labour Government’s obligation to remove illegal immigrants. Perhaps Farage could have worked that point into his question.

Labour: Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) praised Labour’s work on child poverty; Jane Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) praised renewable energy in Cornwall; Josh Simons (Makerfield) celebrated Labour’s local developments in community healthcare; Sam Carling (NW Cambs) gifted the PM a question on policing and police recruitment; Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) gifted him another on school breakfast clubs; Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill) asked the PM to outline what Labour was doing to help renters, which Starmer was happy to do; Sarah Hall (Warrington South) asked for help with her proposed scheme for new local NHS facilities; Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) helped the PM celebrate Labour’s actions against fly-tippers; Adam Thompson (Erewash) helped him criticise Derbyshire County Council’s failures re potholes; Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) welcomed the Government’s rescue of British Steel and asked for more investment in Black Country industry, giving Starmer the opportunity to talk about his new hub for small firms seeking defence contracts.

Labour outliers: Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) explained how military compensation for injuries resulted in a reduction in pension credit for one of his constituents (who was in the Gallery); the PM promised a meeting with the relevant Minister. Dan Tomlinson (Chipping Barnet) attempted a puff for voting Labour on May the First to stop a Reform/Conservative pact, but the Speaker stopped his question as not relevant to the PM’s duties; there is another who still has to learn the job.

Source: http://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.com/2025/05/forensic-failure-pmqs-30th-april-2025.html