After years of denial and obfuscation, and of course Keir Starmer initially dismissing those calling for answers as a “far-right bandwagon”, we have some progress.
The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs has finally published its terms of reference. It took far too long and far too much pressure to get here.
But for the thousands of victims whose suffering was ignored (and may still be being ignored to this day) by the very institutions meant to protect them, it’s something. This isn’t the Labour Government suddenly growing a conscience, though.
It’s been dragged to this point against its clear wishes to continue to cover up the dark truths behind the Pakistani Muslim rape gang scandal.
I chose those words advisedly because the original draft terms released in December deliberately omitted any requirement to examine the ethnicity and religion of the offenders.
That omission was fixed only after sustained Conservative pressure. Kemi Badenoch held public meetings with survivors and pushed for this.
And Katie Lam deserves particular credit for reading out, in the House of Commons, some of the actual acts committed. I sometimes catch my wife staring into space, and she tells me that she is still haunted by hearing Ms Lam read them out; imagine being a victim of the actual crimes. I shan’t repeat them here, but those with strong stomachs should seek them out for themselves.
The final terms now explicitly require the inquiry to examine religious, ethnic and cultural motivations, both in the offending itself and in the institutional failures that let it continue.
The phrase “community cohesion,” long used by police, councils and social workers as cover for inaction, is now named in the mandate as a cause of failure.
The grooming gangs inquiry must blow the lid on ethnicity and religion before it's too late - James Price | PA/West Yorkshire Police
Officials still working in public service can be compelled to explain themselves under oath. Let’s be absolutely explicit about what this means – police and social workers who either knew or suspected that the religion and/or ethnicity of perpetrators was relevant to the gang-like nature of these criminals, but who didn’t speak up for fear of being called racist and causing social unrest, will be discussed.
The inquiry also has statutory powers to demand witnesses and documents (though much will have already been destroyed, one fears).
Any evidence of criminal conduct by professionals will go straight to Operation Beaconport for possible prosecution. Findings will be published on a rolling basis, not buried years from now. These are real improvements.
But Britain’s record with public inquiries is not encouraging. The previous “The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse” ran for seven years, cost nearly £200million, and saw most of its recommendations ignored. It deliberately sidestepped these religious and ethnic considerations.
Meanwhile, families in over 50 cities and towns across Britain have been denied justice – parents have been arrested for trying to save their children from these monsters, and the state colluded to cover it all up in the name of ‘community cohesion’.
Will anyone go to prison? Will the law change? Will future politicians have the courage to admit what happened? It’s already too late for so many, but we must keep the pressure on the government to ensure justice is finally done, and we cut this evil out of our country by whatever legal means necessary.