Elon Musk, billionaire tech mogul, threw himself into British politics in recent weeks, X has used its social media platform to attack misinformation about Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other members of the Labor government.
In a series of vitriolic posts to his 211 million followers in recent days, Mr Musk accused Mr Starmer and other Labor lawmakers of enabling Britain's so-called grooming gangs. The statement refers to a decade-long scandal involving a series of child sex abuse cases in which girls were molested and raped by gangs of men in several towns and cities. Most of the perpetrators were of British Pakistani heritage.
There are many inaccuracies in Mr. Musk's posts and a has wide coverage the issue is as if it was never mentioned. However, the posts focus on the harrowing child sex abuse scandal that has gripped Britain and fueled long-running debates on race, immigration and abuse.
What was the maintenance gang scandal?
It was published by The Times of London in 2011 a series of studies Articles on the sexual exploitation of girls by gangs in the North of England and the Midlands since 1997. At the time, a detective, Chief Inspector Alan Edwards, told the paper: “Everyone was too scared to address the ethnicity factor.” It came to be known as cases “Some gangs” scandal.
In 2014 the findings of an officer who has worked for years investigation One such abuse in Rotherham, northern England, has sparked a national reckoning. Between 1997 and 2013, at least 1,400 children, some as young as 11, were found to have been sexually abused, and local authorities have been investigating for years. Similar gangs have been found to operate in other towns and cities in England.
Grooming in Rotherham, population 257,000, followed a similar pattern: young men courting girls in public places such as town centers and shopping centres; gradual introduction of alcohol and other drugs; then had sex with a man, who demanded that the girl prove his love by having sex with his friends.
A local government report found that victims and parents seeking help were increasingly being let down by the police and social services. Some police officers were found to refer to victims as “cake” and abuse of girls as a “lifestyle choice”.
The Rotherham case was highly charged because of the racial antagonism between the victims and the perpetrators, who were predominantly white. Prosecutor's Offices Oxford and the northern towns of Oldham and Rochdale There are also men of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Afghan heritage who received lengthy prison terms for abusing dozens of girls in 2012.
What do we know about ethnicity and sexual exploitation?
Experts say reports of child sexual abuse should be treated with caution because many victims never come forward or do so years later. still, data on the ethnicity of victims and perpetrators of child sexual abuse Released by the Labor government in November – the first of its kind to be published by any British government – it shows that 83 per cent of convicted offenders in 2023 were white and 7 per cent Asian, broadly in line with the country's overall demographics. (In UK official statistics, 'Asian' is a very broad term that can refer to people of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Chinese heritage, or from other parts of South Asia.)
Nazir Afzal, who was chief prosecutor for North West England from 2011 to 2015 and is of Pakistani heritage, said in 2015: “There is no escaping the fact that there are Pakistani gangs who prey on vulnerable girls.”
He said South Asians were “disproportionately” involved. in specific types of street maintenance This has been highlighted by incidents in Rotherham, Rochdale and elsewhere, although nationally the more common types of child sexual abuse are carried out mainly by white British men.
The racial element of these high-profile cases has even become a common right-wing talking point specialists noted that ethnicity is not a predictor of propensity for child abuse, and that widespread child abuse has long been covered up in other communities and institutions, including the Roman Catholic Church. The trope has also been weaponized by the far right, including terrorists. Who is white supremacist? 51 people died In 2019, he carried a marked gun into two mosques in New Zealand “For Rotherham.”
When did Mr. Musk start talking about it?
In October Jess Phillips, Labor MP and defense ministerOldham, near Manchester, rejected local government requests for a national public inquiry into child sexual abuse in the area in the 2000s and 2010s. A 2022 report Commissioned by Andy Burnham, the Labor mayor of Manchester, between 2011 and 2014, children in Oldham were being failed by the police and local authorities.
Ms Phillips, who has spent much of her career campaigning for women and victims of sexual violence, said the local council, the city's governing body, should conduct a local inquiry, as it has done in several other cities.
This was his answer was captured last week by GB NewsA hard-right network posted an online news story titled “Labour REJECTS call for Government inquiry into Oldham gang scandal”.
Mr Musk later weighed in, calling Ms Phillips a “rape-genocide apologist” and a “witch” who “deserves to be in jail” and smearing Mr Starmer as complicit in the scandal.
Oldham Council leader Arooj Shah said in a statement that the council launched the investigation in October. “We are working closely with survivors and survivors' families to ensure that they will not only have a voice but a central role in the development of this inquiry,” he said. “We expect the technical terms to be agreed in the coming months.”
What role did Keir Starmer play?
Mr Musk said Mr Starmer, who won a landslide election victory in July, “must go” and falsely claimed Mr Starmer was “deeply complicit in mass vote-rape”.
Before entering politics in 2015, Mr Starmer served as Britain's attorney general from 2008 to 2013, when the gangs issue was in the national spotlight.
While in this role, Mr Starmer oversaw the prosecution of a gang of barbers in Rochdale, mainly made up of men of South Asian heritage. At a news conference on Monday, Mr Starmer called child sexual abuse “absolutely sick” and said many victims were let down by “misconceptions about community relations or the idea that institutions should be protected above all else”.
He added: “When I was the Attorney General for five years, I got involved in this matter because I could see what was happening. When I left office, we had a record number of child sexual abuse cases.
Mr Starmer and his Crown Prosecution Service colleague Mr Afzal praised in a 2013 parliamentary report published under the previous Conservative-led government. “Mr. Starmer has worked throughout his tenure to improve the treatment of victims of sexual violence in the criminal justice system,” the report said, adding that “the response should provide a model for other agencies struggling with localized care.”
What has happened since the abuses first came to light?
Since the early 2010s, the issue of gangs in Britain has been the subject of numerous local and national investigations and reports.
Starting from 2015, a broad public inquiry More than 300 days of government-sponsored hearings were held. Ultimately, he conducted 15 studies, including networks of abusers and cases of abuse in schools and church settings.
A February 2022 report indicated that sexual exploitation of children by organized networks remains a major problem across the country. The final report, due in October 2022, contained 20 recommendations to protect children, but the then Conservative government did not act on them. In a statement this week, the Home Office said it was “working swiftly” to implement them.
Professor Alexis Jay, who led both this national inquiry and the 2014 Rotherham inquiry, said: “We've had quite a bit of inquiry, consultation and discussion – especially for victims and survivors who have had the courage to come forward.”