Kemi Badenoch blasts grooming gangs from ‘peasant’ areas in fiery interview | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Kemi Badenoch has blasted grooming gangs from “peasant” backgrounds as she vowed to proceed preventing for a nationwide inquiry.

The Conservative Party chief, in an explosive interview with GB News, additionally stated she doesn’t “care” if individuals declare she is “jumping on a far-right bandwagon”.

Mrs Badenoch stated a public probe into the abuse of hundreds of younger ladies, primarily by Pakistani males, will assist expose failings within the police, social providers and politics.

The Tory chief advised GB News: “One of the issues that younger ladies have advised me is that they suppose it’s nonetheless occurring, that they’ve mother and father contacting them now who’re saying ‘this is happening to my daughter.

“There are two cultural issues which I believe have been identified. One is on the perpetrator side. Where do these abusers come from?

“If you look at it, there is a systematic pattern of behaviour, not even just from one country, but from sub communities within those countries, people with a particular background, particular class background, work background.”

Asked what that background was, Mrs Badenoch said: “People from a very, very poor, sort of peasant background. Very, very rural, almost cut off from even the home origin countries that they might have been in.”

She also referred to “the jobs that they were doing,” such as being taxi drivers, “which allowed them to exhibit this predatory behavior.”

She added: “I don’t care what individuals name me, whether or not they say I’m leaping on a far-right bandwagon or that I’m simply doing it for politics.

“This is one thing that I’ve been speaking about for some time.

“This is an issue I personally care about. I have been a young girl. I’ve been a young woman. I have two daughters. This stuff terrifies me.

“I don’t keep quiet when I see something that’s going wrong.

“Whether it was with getting justice for postmasters, whether it was stopping rapists from being put in women’s prisons … whether it was stopping mostly gay autistic children from being sterilized under the cover of trans when they needed different help.”

Taking aim at the gangs, she said: “There are some places where when people behave in that way, a mob turns up and burns their homes down, and then they know that they can’t do that sort of thing.

“What for me is most extraordinary about this case is that clearly these people thought that they could get away with it. That is the thing that we should be looking at.”

The explosive interview comes after the Labour MP for Rotherham has called for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, calling child sexual abuse in the UK “endemic”.

Sarah Champion called for a nationwide inquiry that would be led locally and probe the failings of authorities over grooming gangs.

She proposed a national “Telford-style” inquiry rolled out by the Home Office to areas that trigger the threshold for greater scrutiny.

The findings would then be fed back to the Home Office for a national response.
“Child sexual abuse is endemic within the UK and must be recognised as a nationwide precedence,” she said.

“It is obvious that the general public distrusts governments and authorities in the case of stopping and prosecuting youngster abuse, particularly youngster sexual exploitation.”

She set out a five-point plan of recommendations including a national inquiry and a “nationwide audit” to see if grooming gangs are still operating or cases have been missed.

Local inquiries lack the power to compel witnesses and would fail to satisfy the public’s concern of cover-ups, she said.

Triggers for such inquiries in local areas could be local councils or police referring themselves or an independent panel raising concerns.

Victim or survivor reports could also trigger an inquiry under the model, Ms Champion said.

Pressure has mounted on the Prime Minister to launch an inquiry specifically into grooming gangs since billionaire Elon Musk posted a slew of attacks on him over the issue at the start of the year.

Dan Carden, who represents Liverpool Walton, became the first Labour MP to back calls for a national inquiry at the weekend.

Downing Street agreed that Ms Champion’s views on the matter carry weight given her extensive experience on the issue.

But the Government will be “guided and led by the victims and survivors” on what action it takes, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.

So far, Sir Keir Starmer has resisted calls for a new inquiry, saying the Government will focus on implementing the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) chaired by Professor Alexis Jay.

Ms Champion urged the Government to set out a timetable to implement the recommendations and ringfence resources to do so.

She also called for a review of whether the law is fit for purpose to protect children and prosecute child abusers.

Ms Champion said: “Having labored extensively with victims and survivors, and frontline professionals, I’ve lengthy believed that we have to absolutely perceive the character of this crime and the failures within the response of public our bodies if we’re to really defend youngsters.

“It is clear that nothing less than a national inquiry into the failings of those in authority to both prevent, and be accountable for their failings, in relation to grooming gangs will restore the faith in our safeguarding systems.”

Prof Jay had produced a report on grooming gangs in Rotherham in 2014 earlier than chairing the nationwide IICSA, which reported in 2022.

That inquiry revealed a 200-page supplemental report particularly on abuse by organised networks.

Prof Jay has beforehand stated that she wouldn’t be in favour of one other nationwide inquiry, warning it could delay implementation of her suggestions.