Starmer attacks spread 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 in the rape of Britain” during his tenure as director of public prosecutions (DPP) for failing to tackle grooming gangs.

Senior Conservatives and Reform UK MPs have also spent the week calling for a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation.

But Sir Keir said: “Those who are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they’re interested in themselves.”

He said the online debate had “crossed a line”, resulting in threats against MPs, including Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips.

Sir Keir went on to accuse the Tories of “jumping on a bandwagon” to gain attention, saying Conservative MPs were “amplifying what the far-right is saying” on child sexual abuse after failing to act “for 14 long years”.

Debate around grooming gangs was reignited this week after it was reported that Phillips rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation in the town, in favour of a locally-led investigation.

The decision was taken in October, but first reported by GB News on 1 January.

Describing child sexual exploitation as “utterly sickening”, Sir Keir defended his record in office as DPP, saying he tackled the issue “head on”.

While DPP, Sir Keir introduced a special prosecutor for child abuse and sexual exploitation to oversee convictions against grooming gangs.

He also changed the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance to encourage police to investigate suspects in complex sexual abuse cases and court reforms aimed at making the process less traumatic for victims.

“I changed the system because I could see some of the things that were going wrong,” he told reporters.

Sir Keir said he reopened cases, brought the first prosecution of an “Asian grooming gang” in Rochdale and called for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.

“When I left office, we had the highest number of child sexual abuse cases being prosecuted on record,” Sir Keir said.

“The victims here suffered terrible abuse,” he said, “and then they weren’t listened to.”

Phillips had also “done a thousand times more” to protect victims of child sexual abuse than those attacking her can “even dreamt about”, he said.

Reporters were briefed Sir Keir planned a bold defence of his record and his government – and his comments were the most impassioned he has been in his time as prime minister.

Sir Keir did not name any of those he thought were spreading lies in the debate, but his comments followed a series of questions about interventions by Musk.

Over the past week, the tech-entrepreneur has attacked the Labour government over the issue, using his platform on his social media site X.

Musk accused Phillips of being a “rape genocide apologist” and has called for her and Sir Keir to be jailed.

On Monday, Musk started a poll asking X users to vote on whether “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”.

Asked about the post, Sir Keir chose not to respond.

Musk’s push to oust the PM could spark diplomatic trouble for Labour.

Alongside being one of the richest men in the world, Musk is also a key adviser for US President-elect Donald Trump.

Whether Sir Keir can sustain his approach to Musk over the coming hours and days may hinge on what Musk next posts on social media.

Musk has also called for far-right activist Tommy Robinson to be released from jail.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court, after admitting he breached an injunction against repeating claims about a Syrian refugee schoolboy.

Sir Keir accused those “cheerleading” Robinson of not being interested in justice and said he would not tolerate discussion and debate on lies.

“Once we lose the anchor that truth matters, in the robust debate that we must have, then we’re on a very slippery slope,” he said.

There have been numerous investigations into the systematic rape of young women by organised gangs, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.

Sir Keir admitted many of the victims had been “let down by perverse ideas about community relations or by the idea that institutions must be protected above all else and they have not been listened to and they have not been heard.”

An inquiry into abuse in Rotherham found 1,400 children had been sexually abused over a 16-year period, predominantly by British Pakistani men.

An investigation in Telford found that up to 1,000 girls had been abused over 40 years – and that some cases had not been investigated because of “nervousness about race”.

The Conservatives and Reform UK have been calling for a statutory inquiry into grooming gangs.

Last week Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservatives, said: “Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice.”

But Sir Keir dismissed the calls, claiming Professor Alexis Jay’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was “comprehensive”.

He argued “there have been a lot of reviews including localised reviews”.

Sir Keir said he agreed that “no stone should be left unturned” to end child sexual abuse but insisted that “action” is needed now, not another review.