Home Office Secretary Jesse Phillips said the “disinformation” spread by Elon Musk about British grooming gangs and the government’s response were “endangering” her life.
Phillips has come under sustained attack from the tech billionaire, who has labeled her an “evil witch” and a “rape genocide apologist” while calling for her to be jailed.
Britain has been rocked in recent days by controversy over its handling of a historic grooming case involving the sexual exploitation of girls by a gang made up of mostly British-Pakistani men, after Musk called for a new national inquiry into the scandal.
Musk launched a blistering attack on Phillips after he rejected a request from the Home Office’s Oldham Committee for a Whitehall-led inquiry into the Greater Manchester town’s grooming scandal. .
Instead, the Home Office urged local authorities to conduct their own reviews, citing the precedent of investigations into other towns plagued by rape gangs, such as Telford and Rotherham, while highlighting a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation that is due to conclude in 2022.
On Tuesday, Phillips told the BBC that threats to her own life had increased since Musk launched attacks on her on his social media platform X, which she described as “very exhausting” but added : “I’m no stranger to people who don’t know what they’re talking about, trying to silence women like me.
However, she added that her treatment at Musk’s hands was “nothing” compared to what victims of abuse go through.
Phillips told Sky News that SpaceX owner Musk should “go on to Mars” and expressed her anger at political rivals, including Conservative leader Cammy Badenock, after Musk made the same request. They pushed for a national investigation into the sting ring.
Musk has been contacted for comment.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer issued a staunch defense of Phillips on Monday, praising her record of defending female victims of violence and abuse.
Phillips’ comments came after shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick admitted the Conservatives could “do more” to crack down on sex abuse gangs while in government.
Jenrick defended the record of the previous Conservative government but told the BBC: “We could have done more and should we be doing more now? Yes, absolutely – we have to root out this problem .
He said a seven-year national inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales, chaired by Professor Alexis Jay and reported in 2022, looked at just six towns. of rape gangs, but added that they may operate in as many as 50 towns.
Jenrick also defended Labor criticism of the Labor government’s decision not to launch a Whitehall-led inquiry into the Oldham scandal.
Responding to questions about the previous Conservative government’s refusal to launch an investigation into an Oldham rape gang, he said previous requests had come from “a small number of councilors” and the latest request had been made by the local authority itself.
Jenrick, who unsuccessfully ran for the Tory leadership last year, last week defended his controversial comments that mass immigration to the UK by people from an “alien culture” with “medieval attitudes towards women” had led to the scandal.
He said he would not “whitewash” or “sanitize” his language to avoid offending, pointing to evidence that fear of being labeled a racist led authorities to fail to take action against gangs that mainly involve men of Pakistani origin. action.
Starmer accused Tory politicians of “amplifying far-right rhetoric” on child sexual exploitation after “14 years” of inaction.
Jay said on Tuesday the issue had become “politicized” and warned a new inquiry could delay implementation of her review’s recommendations.
She criticized people for “wading into the debate” on the issue “in a very uninformed way.”
Jay has previously criticized the previous Conservative government for failing to implement 20 key recommendations in its 2022 report, which warned of “widespread” abuse in society.
