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A Labour minister is facing calls to step down after calling a nationwide grooming scandal a ‘dog whistle’.
Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons, was speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions to Tim Montgomerie, the founder of ConservativeHome, The Telegraph reported.
In the midst of a discussion about councils’ diversity spending, Mr Montgomerie asked Ms Powell if she had watched the recent shocking Channel 4 documentary that followed five women who had been victims of sexual grooming in the UK.
Mr Montgomerie asked: ‘I don’t know if you saw the documentary on Channel 4 about rape gangs.’
To which Ms Powell, the Lord President of the Council, replied: ‘Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do you? Let’s get that dog whistle out, shall we, yeah?’
Mr Montgomerie responded: ‘There is a real issue where… There were so many people in local government, in the authorities, who, for good reason, were worried about upsetting community tensions, that those girls went undefended.’
Channel 4’s film, Groomed: A National Scandal, delved into the stories of five women who had been targeted by rape gangs inside the UK.
The remarks by Ms Powell, who has been the Labour MP for Manchester Central since 2012, drew immediate ire from her political opponents.
Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons, faces calls to resign after referring to a nationwide grooming scandal exposed by Channel 4 as a ‘dog whistle’
Channel 4’s film, Groomed: A National Scandal, delved into the stories of five women who had been targeted by rape gangs inside the UK
Katie Lam, the Tory MP for Weald of Kent, took to social media platform X to blast Ms Powell for her comments
Writing on X, Katie Lam, the Tory MP for Weald of Kent, said: ‘If the Leader of the House of Commons does not, in fact, think that industrialised child sexual torture is just a “dog whistle” and a “little trumpet”, she should take it back and say sorry.
‘If she does actually think that, she has no business being in Cabinet and should resign.’
The backlash did elicit an apology from Ms Powell, who said: ‘In the heat of a discussion on AQ [Any Questions], I would like to clarify that I regard issues of child exploitation & grooming with the utmost seriousness.
‘I’m sorry if this was unclear. I was challenging the political point scoring around it, not the issue itself.
‘As a constituency MP I’ve dealt with horrendous cases. This Gvt is acting to get the truth, and deliver justice.’
However, the show of contrition did not land for Ms Lam, who responded on X: ‘No, this isn’t good enough. Nobody is trying to score political points but you.
‘Say that the grooming gangs are a fact and a stain on our country, not a “dog whistle” – or resign.’
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: ‘Labour’s Lucy Powell thinks it’s a ‘dog whistle’ to demand arrests and accountability for the rape gangs. What a disgusting betrayal of the victims. They are part of the cover-up.’
Ms Powell, who has been the Labour MP for Manchester Central since 2012, was forced onto the defensive after making the remarks
In a post on X, she said that the target of her comments had been ‘political point scoring’ around the grooming scandal – not the issue of grooming itself
However, the ‘clarification’ was insufficient for Ms Lam, who said ‘Nobody is trying to score political points but you’
A Reform UK spokesman told The Telegraph: ‘If yesterday’s local election results weren’t enough, Lucy Powell’s abhorrent comments truly demonstrate how out of touch the Labour Party is.
‘She does not take the mass rape of young girls by predominantly Pakistani men seriously. The mask has slipped. After these comments, Keir Starmer should consider if Lucy Powell is fit to serve.’
The Channel 4 documentary revealed that a report that identified more than 330 young women at risk from Asian grooming gangs was deemed ‘toxic’ and suppressed by the Home Office.
The 90-minute film reveals that the report into child exploitation in Rotherham in the early 2000s was part of research funded by Tony Blair’s government.
Hall asks one of its authors, youth worker Jayne Senior, whether the report’s allegations were ignored ‘because the perpetrators were overwhelmingly British-Pakistani’.
Senior replies: ‘I was told on more than one occasion that I needed to stop rocking the multicultural boat. We were talking about children that were being exploited, trafficked, tortured, raped.’
The documentary followed five victims who had bravely told their story of grooming, sexual assault and rape and the hands of their abusers.
It also shed light on two women who began investigations into the scandal more than a decade ago and how their investigations were stopped in their tracks.
Anna Hall spoke to five victims of grooming gangs as well as two women who were silenced in their investigations into the vile criminals
Jade was one of the brave survivors who spoke out in the Channel 4 film about her experiences of grooming
Fellow survivor Chantelle was another who shared her experience of being groomed by a gang in Manchester from the age of 11
The Channel 4 documentary revealed that a report that identified more than 330 young women at risk from Asian grooming gangs was deemed ‘toxic’ and suppressed by the Home Office
Jade was one of two victims who waived their anonymity to appear in the film in person.
Alongside fellow victim Chantelle, they told their stories of the men who took advantage of them when they were teenagers.
In her interview, Jade showed Anna evidence of how the grooming started – hundreds of messages inviting her to various parties, which then turned into asking for sexual favours.
Labour came in for criticism earlier this year for its handling of a previous grooming gang scandal, in which rape gangs abused thousands of children.
After the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) found institutional failings and tens of thousands of victims across England and Wales, Yvette Cooper announced a £5million plan for probes in Oldham and up to four other pilot areas.
But last month Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, stopped short of saying five inquiries would take place.
She told MPs: ‘Following feedback from local authorities, the fund will adopt a flexible approach to support both full independent local inquiries and more bespoke work, including local victims’ panels or locally led audits of the handling of historical cases.’
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