Rupert Lowe will do what the UK government won’t – hold a national inquiry into Muslim rape gangs

Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper initially promised to conduct five local independent inquiries into grooming gang scandals, but the Government has since quietly dismantled these plans.

Because the Government has failed the victims and the public, at the end of March,  Rupert Lowe, Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth, launched a crowd funder to enable him to organise an independent national inquiry into the UK’s rape gang scandal. His inquiry will examine “what happened, how it happened, and why it was allowed to happen.”

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  Labour “Kills” Local Grooming Gang Inquiries Before They Can Crawl

  By JJ Starky

  Back in January, Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper promised the country that the government would act on the grooming gang scandal.  They pledged to conduct five local independent inquiries. It wasn’t what certain survivors and commentators hoped for but it was something.  This week we learned they’ve been quietly dismantling such promises.

  On 16 January, Cooper announced a national plan to roll out local inquiries into child sexual exploitation across five key areas.

  The announcement was backed by £5 million in funding and led by a respected figure: Tom Crowther KC, the barrister who chaired the Telford inquiry, which uncovered the sexual abuse of more than a thousand children over three decades amid “shocking” failures by local police and councils.

  They asked Crowther to help create a national framework for victim-centred, locally led inquiries. He agreed. Days later, Cooper stood up in the Commons and formally announced his involvement.

  But from that point on, it all began to break down.

  The Quiet U-Turn

  

  Ahead of his committee appearance this week, and still unclear on what his role actually was, Crowther sought advice from his friend and former Justice Secretary Robert Buckland who passed him Jess Phillips’ number.

  Crowther texted her, asking if she could clarify “what I was likely to be asked to do and when.”

  By 14 February – five full weeks after Cooper announced his involvement – Crowther still hadn’t received a formal update. He called the Home Office directly and asked: “Do you still want me?”

  The official informed him that the framework would now be drafted by ministers and advisers. Crowther’s role was no longer central – he could “comment” on a draft, once written, but that was it.  He asked the official to confirm the exchange in writing and was promised an email that day. Seven days passed. Nothing came.

  On 21 February, Crowther followed up again by text: “A week ago, you told me you would send me an email so we wouldn’t have to conduct this through text. Would still welcome that.”

  No reply. Summing up the situation for MPs this week, Crowther admitted: “Ultimately, in answer to the question ‘how is a national framework being developed?’ I would say, at this stage, I don’t know.”

  A meeting with the Home Office has since been scheduled – only after Crowther went public with his concerns.

  Note this is the same Jess Phillips – Minister for Safeguarding – who met in February with Marlon West, the father of a grooming gang survivor in Greater Manchester.  During that meeting, West made his position clear: he called for a national inquiry.  But something had changed in the official meeting minutes.  His words had been altered – “national inquiry” had become “national strategy.” A quiet substitution with significant implications. An honest mistake or a calculated move to soften the demand and avoid accountability?

  It’s an obvious point to make but, on many levels, it seems the government is less concerned with being responsive than looking responsive.

  

  Wonder why…

  Conflicts of Interest

  Then came the money.

  Initially, £5 million had been set aside for five local inquiries. But on 20 March, it was revealed that this funding would no longer be allocated directly. Instead, councils would have to bid for it.

  Leaving it up to councils to decide whether to “opt in” to a grooming inquiry is not only a cop-out; in certain areas, it’s a glaring conflict of interest.

  Some of these same local authorities are alleged to have been complicit – either through denial, incompetence, or outright cover-up.  Arguably, giving them the power to decide whether to subject themselves to scrutiny is akin to letting suspects choose whether they want to be investigated.

  Even if a council does bid, they don’t have to conduct a full inquiry.

  

  In further correspondence with the Home Office, Conservative MP Robbie Moore discovered the money can now be used for “options” that fall “short of a full investigation” – such as “victim-survivor engagement”, “scrutiny” and “follow-up.”  These are the Home Office’s own words – incredibly vague words, some would say deliberately so.

  What Comes Next

  Meanwhile, the Conservatives – having spent 14 years in government without launching a full, independent inquiry – now say they will table an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to mandate a statutory investigation.

  The move, though no doubt politically motivated, would force a vote in Parliament and – if passed – compel local authorities to participate in inquiries, regardless of whether they want to or not.

  

  Outside Westminster, Rupert Lowe has launched his own private inquiry into the scandal. But without statutory powers, it can’t compel testimony, demand documents or force cooperation from councils or police forces.

  Still, Lowe remains undeterred. Writing in The Telegraph on Tuesday, he said: “We have to try. I want to be able to say I have done everything within my power to shine a light on the many horrors that still continue today.”

  About the Author

  JJ Starky is a pen name for a former political strategist who is now a part-time citizen journalist based in the UK. His work has been published in The Salisbury Review, Off Guardian and The Conservative Woman. He is the proprietor of the Substack pages titled ‘The Stark Naked Brief’ and ‘Project Stark’.

  Featured image: The Rape Gang Inquiry crowd funder by Rupert Lowe