The grooming gangs in Rotherham — let us just say Rotherham and let it also cover Rochdale, Manchester, Telford, Oldham and dozens of other British cities and towns where young girls were left unprotected to be drugged and raped — is a scar on the conscience of modern Britain. It is one that the political and cultural elites have largely ignored for far too long. The horrifying details are now well-known. But what is also shocking, besides the abuse, is the failure of the very institutions that were supposed to protect these vulnerable children.
Enter Keir Starmer, who, as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from 2008 to 2013, had the power and responsibility to intervene. Instead, Starmer and his colleagues, in their obsession with political correctness, did little, allowing the abuse to continue.
Starmer’s tenure at the Crown Prosecution Service coincided with the height of the grooming gangs scandal. In the town of Rotherham alone, more than 1,400 white girls were being sexually exploited, groomed, and trafficked by Pakistani-origin Muslims. Numerous reports of sexual exploitation and abuse flooded the authorities, yet prosecutions remained scarce. Why?
The answer lies in the stifling culture of political correctness and the Labour Party’s desperate desire to avoid accusations of racism. The perpetrators of these crimes were overwhelmingly from the Pakistani Muslim community and the victims were almost always white girls, sometimes as young as 11. The political elites, led by Starmer, preferred to turn a blind eye to this inconvenient truth. Inaction, for them, was a safer course than confronting the systemic failure to protect young girls from these gangs.
In his role as DPP, Starmer had the power to direct prosecutions and ensure that these criminals faced justice. Yet many British people now feel his institution chose to protect the reputation of communities rather than the lives of vulnerable children. Keir Starmer’s occasional silence or overly-cautious moderation on the issue speaks volumes: His priority was not the protection of young girls, but the preservation of the politically correct narrative that multiculturalism must never be questioned, even at the cost of sacrificed childhoods.
Still, the outrage is not just in Starmer’s failure. It is also in the hypocrisy of the progressive elite that has spent years covering up the truth. When Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and owner of X (formerly Twitter), dared to speak out about the issue, he was met with an outpouring of criticism and condemnation. Musk’s sin? He simply suggested that the men involved in the abuse should be deported. For anyone familiar with the Rotherham scandal, this statement was not a radical opinion. It was common sense.
Musk, blunt as ever, pointed to a fundamental issue that the political class, including Starmer, has been unwilling to confront: The fact that these crimes were not isolated incidents, but part of a larger, systemic issue within certain communities. And for daring to state the obvious, Musk was labelled “racist,” “xenophobic,” and even “far-right” by the same people who had previously chosen to ignore the thousands of victims in cities and towns across Britain.
These progressives, who pride themselves on their commitment to social justice, have spent years turning a blind eye to the abuse, all while hiding behind the veil of multiculturalism and diversity.
It is nothing short of Orwellian. Musk’s comment was hardly an inflammatory statement — he was calling for accountability. Yet the same progressives who scolded Musk for his forthrightness have been silent, or worse, complicit, when it comes to confronting the core issues of the Rotherham scandal.
Where was their outrage then? Where was the progressive fury when thousands of girls were being abused? The reality is that progressives like Starmer didn’t want to confront the racial, cultural, and social dynamics that allowed these gangs to thrive. They preferred to protect their ideological narratives, which insist all cultures are equally benign and that any criticism of minority groups is inherently racist.
Musk, for all his unfiltered manner, saw things clearly. He did not attack a community. He simply called for those responsible for these crimes to face justice. Yet the Left turned on him with all the usual accusations of racism and extremism.
This is the true hypocrisy of the progressives. They accuse Musk of stoking division, while they themselves allowed for the horrible deeds that prompted Musk’s comments to take place.
The truth is simple. Rotherham and all the other cities and towns where these rape gangs operated was not just a failure of policing. It was a failure of leadership, of political courage, and of moral clarity. Keir Starmer, as DPP, had a responsibility to ensure that the perpetrators were prosecuted, but he chose to do little. He chose not to rock the boat. And now, as Labour’s leader and PM, his failure is a blot on his record, one that he has yet to fully confront.
Musk, on the other hand, made a direct call for justice, highlighting a glaring truth: When crimes are committed, the perpetrators must be held accountable regardless of their background. This is a principle of justice that should unite us all, but it is one that the progressive left has sacrificed in favour of preserving its narrative.
If we are to move forward, we must stop hiding behind platitudes of multiculturalism and political correctness. The victims of Rotherham deserve better than the silence they have received from the political class. They deserve leaders who will pursue justice, no matter the political cost. Musk may not be perfect, but his stance on Rotherham reveals a moral clarity that many in the political establishment, including Keir Starmer, have failed to demonstrate.
As long as the progressive elite continues to protect its ideological obsessions, it will only ensure that more Rotherhams are allowed to happen. It is time to stop pretending that political fixations are more important than innocent lives. It is time for the truth to be spoken, no matter who it offends.
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