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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Helen Corbett

Cooper defends Phillips as ‘fearless’ advocate after Musk criticism

Minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls Jess Phillips (Jordan Pettitt/PA) - (PA Wire)

The Home Secretary has defended Jess Phillips as a “fearless and formidable” advocate for sexual abuse victims after Elon Musk criticised the safeguarding minister.

The billionaire X owner suggested Ms Phillips “deserves to be in prison” for denying requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.

Ms Phillips said in a letter to the local council that Oldham must follow in the footsteps of other towns such as Rotherham and Telford and commission its own inquiry into historical abuse of children.

Jess Phillips has dedicated her career to tackling sexual violence and abuse and to being a voice for victims and survivors of the most terrible crimes, including child sexual abuse

Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary

Mr Musk also attacked Sir Keir Starmer, saying the Prime Minister failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Ms Phillips had “campaigned tirelessly” on behalf of those that had been failed by institutions.

“Jess Phillips has dedicated her career to tackling sexual violence and abuse and to being a voice for victims and survivors of the most terrible crimes, including child sexual abuse,” she said.

“From setting up the first ever child sexual exploitation service in the Black Country and supporting survivors in Telford, Jess has been a fearless and formidable advocate for victims and survivors.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (front left) and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips (back right) with counsellor and campaigner Nour Norris (back left) during a visit to meet 999 control handlers at Kent Police (Gareth Fuller/PA) (PA Wire)

“She has worked with whistleblowers and campaigned tirelessly for justice for those badly let down by endemic institutional failure.”

As a Home Office minister, Ms Phillips has put the experience of grooming and trafficking victims “at the heart” of the department’s work on modern slavery and launched a national scheme so police and staff work together to spot when hotels are used as a site of child sexual exploitation, Ms Cooper said.

Ms Cooper said the Birmingham Yardley MP would keep working on implementing the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022.

Led by Professor Alexis Jay, the inquiry looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.

Last year, Ms Phillips described X, formerly Twitter, as a “place of misery” and said she planned to use the site less.

Its owner Mr Musk, a key member of US President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle, shared and reacted to a series of tweets relating to grooming in the UK earlier this week.

Elon Musk said Sir Keir Starmer failed to bring ‘rape gangs’ to justice when he was director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013 (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA) (PA Wire)

The Tesla boss described the Prime Minister as “two-tier Keir”, claiming there was “no justice for severe, violent crimes but prison for social media posts” in the UK.

He also said Sir Keir failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions (DPP) between 2008 and 2013.

Senior Tories including Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch have since sought to put pressure on the Government over grooming gangs.

In 2022, the then-Conservative government also refused a request for a public inquiry into events in Oldham.

Mrs Badenoch repeated her call for an inquiry in the Mail on Sunday, saying “some action was taken under the previous Tory government, but not enough”.

“We still need to know the extent to which institutions such as the police, local government and social services are compromised by political correctness, and even self interest,” she wrote.

“Only then can we have any hope of preventing this scale of abuse from happening again.

“We have failed to get to the bottom of how national-scale child sexual abuse happens, for fear of causing offence.”

Reform UK said on Saturday it would launch a national inquiry into grooming gangs if elected.

Chairman Zia Yusuf told supporters at a conference in Chelmsford, Essex, that his party would launch an independent inquiry that would “leave no stone unturned”.

Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf speaking during the Reform UK east of England conference at Chelmsford City Racecourse (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Wire)

Party leader Nigel Farage said a “full, open, national inquiry” was needed, so that everyone in the country “knows the truth” and understands that “mass open-door immigration without assimilation is a complete cultural disaster for our country”.

Whistleblower Maggie Oliver, a former detective who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012, said Sir Keir is “perhaps as guilty as anyone” over the failure to bring about change but added that she believed those who “pop up when this hits the headlines” would not do so either.

Ms Oliver said on X that inquiries into what happened have led “absolutely nowhere” and “wasted” millions of pounds, adding that those leading them “have always wanted to cover up the truth”.

She went on: “I firmly believe we need totally independent people who will ensure it’s not just another attempt to delay and hide the truth. Radical change and overhaul of all our public bodies.”

“Bring in criminal accountability for all our senior police and public officials who have turned a blind eye.”

Former detective Maggie Oliver posted the comments on social media (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Archive)

She said she felt the Conservatives and Labour were equally to blame and that Sir Keir as former DPP is “perhaps as guilty as anyone I know in where we find ourselves today”.

“We all know what’s going on but I don’t trust a single one of those who to date have been entrusted with keeping our children safe and prosecuting serial rapists. They’ve failed. Repeatedly. Knowingly. Criminally.”

Whistleblower Sara Rowbotham, co-ordinator of the crisis intervention team set up to support young people in Rochdale, expressed frustration at Mr Musk’s posts about the scandal on X, which he owns.

She told The Guardian: “What is (Musk’s) motivation for interfering? It seems very political.

“The person he is trying to go after is Keir Starmer – it is a political swipe that is nothing to do with the women and girls who have been abused time after time.”

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse described the sexual abuse of children as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”.

In November last year, Prof Jay said she felt “frustrated” that none of the probe’s 20 recommendations had been implemented more than two years after its conclusion.

The Labour Party and Number 10 have been approached for comment.

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