POLITICIANS and officials who hushed up child rape gangs for years must face their “day of reckoning”, the Tories have said.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp accused Labour figures of burying the grooming scandal as he ramped up demands for a national inquiry.
He vowed to keep pushing for a new public probe after last night’s Commons bid was defeated by Sir Keir Starmer.
Asked if this would just be a “show trial”, Mr Philp told Never Mind The Ballots: “I want to know who covered this up.
“I want to know who failed these victims by being negligent, by disbelieving their accounts. I want to see a day of reckoning for those people who did not do their job properly.”
Labour MPs yesterday threw out a Conservative amendment calling for a public inquiry, accusing them of a political stunt as it would have torpedoed a piece of flagship legislation.
But Mr Philp said the vote was “just the latest installment” of the party ignoring the grooming gangs scandal.
He pointed to former Labour MP Simon Danczuk claiming he was told not to speak out about the issue, and the party’s Sarah Champion “dumped from the front bench because she raised this issue”.
He said: “So we can see this being swept under the carpet, often by the Labour Party, and
last night’s vote in parliament was just the latest installment in that sweeping under the carpet approach.”
Kemi Badenoch has parroted Elon Musk’s attack that Sir Keir denying a full public inquiry looks like a “cover up”.
Mr Philp said today that while he did not agree on the X billionaire’s tirade against Minister Jess Phillips, he had put the grooming issue under the spotlight.
He said: “I think he certainly raised the salience of the issue and probably got it a wider hearing than it would have got otherwise.
“If we’re completely honest, that’s probably the effect he’s had.”
Some 364 MPs voted to throw out Ms Badenoch’s amendment, dwarfing the 111 in favour – a majority of 253.
The PM insisted it was time for “action” instead of the “delay of a further inquiry” and pledged a series of measures to protect kids.
His flagship Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill would have also collapsed had Ms Badenoch’s amendment been allowed to stand.
Nigel Farage supported the Tory bid but accused Ms Badenoch’s outrage as “insincere” given she did not act as a minister.
The PM has dismissed growing demands for a new inquiry, insisting a previous investigation has already uncovered the horrors that shook a series of northern towns.
