Jess Phillips faced ‘deluge of hate’ after Elon Musk grooming gangs comments

Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips says she faced a “deluge of hate” after tech billionaire Elon Musk used his X social media platform to accuse her of being a “rape genocide apologist”.

Mr Musk’s comments, aimed at Ms Phillips and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, followed Labour’s decision to decline a Whitehall-led inquiry into child sexual abuse in Oldham.

Speaking to Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour MP said there had been an “attempt” to bully her.

“On Friday, it was just a deluge of hate,” she said.

Ms Phillips said the tide changed as young women and constituents reached out to show support.

“It became the deluge of ‘we know this isn’t true’, and I think that the vast majority of people in the country can see exactly what is happening,” she said.

She pledged to listen to a new victims panel announced this week if they called for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

“Nothing is off the table,” she said. “If victims come forward to me in this victims panel and they say, ‘actually, we think there needs to be a national inquiry into this’, I’ll listen.

“I don’t need to wait for a national inquiry to tell me there are people who should have lost their jobs, people who should probably go to prison.”

Labour has previously said any inquiry into grooming gangs should be locally led.

Her comments come after MPs rejected a Conservative push for another national inquiry into grooming gangs.

The Government’s draft child protection legislation cleared its first Commons hurdle on Wednesday following a bitter Prime Minister’s Questions in which Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said failing to back a probe would fuel concerns about a “cover-up”.

The Conservatives had tabled the motion to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill demanding a new national inquiry into gangs which, if approved, would have prevented the legislation from making progress.

But MPs voted to reject the motion by 364 votes to 111.

The Bill received a second reading without the need for a further formal vote and will undergo further scrutiny at a later date.

The Prime Minister hit out at the Tory leader earlier on Wednesday over “lies and misinformation, and slinging of mud” which did not help victims of child sexual abuse.

He had urged Mrs Badenoch to drop her “wrecking amendment” to the Government’s legislation, which includes measures to protect vulnerable children such as tougher rules on home schooling as well as changes to academies and private school regulation.

Sir Keir said a further inquiry could delay action on tackling child sexual abuse, pointing out that recommendations from a seven-year probe which reported in 2022 had not yet been implemented.

The Tory leader hit back: “The Prime Minister called for nine inquiries in the last Parliament. Does he not see that by resisting this one, people will start to worry about a cover-up?”

The Conservatives accused Labour MPs of having “turned a blind eye to justice” for victims of grooming gangs after the motion, which would have derailed a key piece of Government legislation, was rejected in the Commons.

In response to Labour’s opposition to calls for a national inquiry, Mr Musk called Sir Keir “Starmtrooper” and accused him of trying to cover up “terrible things”, and later said the rejection of the amendment was “unbelievable.”

Following the vote, a Labour spokesperson said: “The Conservatives attempted to block this Government’s plans to keep the most vulnerable children in our country safe from harm, after spending years failing to implement Professor Jay’s recommendations.”

On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government would begin to implement Prof Jay’s call for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, with further details expected to be set out in the coming weeks.