THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
PM Keir Starmer is failing in one of the most basic duties of leadership: protecting the victims of child abuse by demanding honesty, competence, and accountability from those in charge. His refusal to sack Jess Phillips, the Safeguarding Minister at the centre of the collapsing grooming gang inquiry, shows weakness and misplaced loyalty at a time when moral clarity is needed most.
Four abuse survivors have already walked out of the inquiry, saying they were dismissed and disbelieved by Phillips. They accuse her of twisting facts and labelling their accounts as “untrue.” These are people who have suffered through some of the worst crimes imaginable—and now they are being retraumatised by the very system meant to help them.
When victims lose faith in a minister, that minister has lost legitimacy. Yet Starmer clings to her, insisting that she is “experienced.” Experience means nothing without integrity. Starmer likes to call himself a man of justice. But justice demands courage—the courage to act when one of your own fails. Instead, he hides behind excuses and political spin. He was already a reluctant convert to launching the grooming gang inquiry at all, dragged into it only after months of pressure and public outrage.
Now, with the inquiry in chaos, he is repeating that same mistake: waiting too long, hoping things will blow over while victims are left voiceless. The truth is simple. A leader’s duty is to stand with survivors, not with ministers who mislead them. Keeping Jess Phillips in her post tells every survivor in Britain that politics still matters more than truth—that loyalty inside the Labour Party is more important than loyalty to the abused and betrayed. It says that reputations come before responsibility.
Starmer’s refusal to act has turned the national grooming gang inquiry into a national disgrace. The resignation of inquiry chairs, the anger of victims, and the collapsing public confidence all show that moral leadership has gone missing. A Prime Minister who cannot remove a minister who has lost the trust of survivors is a Prime Minister who cannot be trusted to deliver justice.
Until he sacks Jess Phillips, Keir Starmer stands accused of doing exactly what past governments did—turning away, staying silent, and letting bureaucrats and politicians decide the limits of truth. The victims deserve better. Britain deserves better.
References
1.https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/oct/23/jess-phillips-grooming-gangs-inquiry-keir-starmer-labour-uk-politics-latest-news?CMP=share_btn_url
2.https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/voices/grooming-gangs-scandal-keir-starmer-jess-phillips-b2850706.html
3.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/06/16/all-the-times-starmer-resisted-a-grooming-gangs-inquiry/
4.https://www.youtube.com/live/VcF1YS8sr78?si=TImCgOCciBQpHZ-m
5.https://www.youtube.com/live/VcF1YS8sr78?si=TImCgOCciBQpHZ-m
