Starmer hits back at Musk and Tories over rape gangs claim, attacking those ‘spreading lies’ and ‘amplifying far right’
Beth Rigby, the Sky News political editor, also asks about Elon Musk, and about his attacks on Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister.
Starmer says that he thinks most people are more interested in the NHS “than what’s happening on Twitter”.
But he says he does want to address in detail this issue.
Let me start with this, child sexual exploitation is utterly sickening, utterly sickening.
And for many, many years, too many victims have been completely let down, let down by perverse ideas about community relations or by the idea that institutions must be protected above all else. And they’ve not been listened to, and they’ve not been heard.
And when I was chief prosecutor for five years, I tackled that head on, because I could see what was happening, and that’s why I reopened cases that have been closed and supposedly finished. I brought the first major prosecution of an Asian grooming gang in the particular case – it was in Rochdale, but it was the first of its kind …
We changed, or I changed, the whole prosecution approach, because I wanted to challenge, and did challenge the myths and stereotypes that were stopping those victims being heard.
So we changed the entire approach, not without criticism at the time, I might add.
But when I left office, we had the highest number of child sexual abuse cases being prosecuted on record.
Now that record is not secret as a public servant, it’s all it’s there for all of you or everybody to see.
I also called for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse. I’ve called for that decade ago. The Tories did nothing about that, for those 10 long years, including when the Jay report came out.
Having defended his record as DPP, Starmer goes on to attack those who have criticised him and Jess Phillips. He does not name Elon Musk, but he is clearly referring to him. Towards the end he also explicitly attacks the Tories, who have joined Musk in calling for an inquiry into the Oldham rape gangs. He says.
Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible, they’re not interested in victims. They’re interested in themselves.
Those who are cheerleading Tommy Robinson are not interested in justice. They’re supporting a man who went to prison for nearly collapsing a grooming case, a gang grooming case. These are people are trying to get some kind of vicarious thrill from street violence that people like Tommy Robinson promote.
And those attacking Jess Phillips, who I’m proud to call a colleague and a friend on protecting victims – Jess Phillips has done 1,000 times more than they’ve even dreamt about when it comes to protecting victims of sexual abuse throughout her entire career …
We’ve seen this playbook many times, whipping up of intimidation and threats of violence, hoping that the media will amplify it.
Jess Phillips does not need me or anybody else to speak on her behalf. But when the poison of the far right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others, that in my book [means] a line has been crossed.
I enjoy the cut and thrust of politics, the robust debate that we must have, but that’s got to be based on facts and truth, not on lies, not on those who are so desperate for attention that they’re prepared to debase themselves and their country.
So this government will get on with the job of protecting victims, including child sexual abuse, mandatory reporting, accelerating the processes.
But what I won’t tolerate is this discussion based on lies without calling it out. What I won’t tolerate is politicians jumping on the bandwagon simply to get attention when those politicians sat in government for 14 long years, tweeting, talking, but not doing anything about it – now so desperate for attention that they’re amplifying what the far right is saying.
So that’s what I say about Jess Phillips, Thank you.