Last week, Labour’s Leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell MP, responded to a question posed by journalist Tim Montgomerie, concerning the Channel 4 documentary “Groomed: A National Scandal”, on the BBC show Any Questions, saying
“Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Let’s get that dog whistle out, shall we?”
Powell posted on X, responding to criticism by Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson, to insist that her comments were made
“Because of the context of the discussion – not because of the issue.”
After deleting that response to Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson, Powell posted:
“In the heat of a discussion on AQ, 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 to the truth, and deliver justice.”
Note also how this isn’t an apology: rather, it positions the outraged public as those who have done Lucy Powell some wrong by misinterpreting what she said, loud and clear. Powell presumes her own righteousness in the apology by insisting that she has a spotless record on the subject of child sexual exploitation in general, and that to suggest otherwise after this clarification is acting in bad faith toward her.
But Powell voted against the opposition motion for a national statutory inquiry into the rape gangs on the 8th of January this year — so any effort to claim credibility on this issue is a sick joke.
Powell has since limited the replies on her non-apology, after I and others ratio’d her with demands that she resign.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said,
This is an empty apology because Powell is not sorry.
Her remarks will stop survivors coming forward out of fear of being called racist.
She won’t be fired either because Starmer agrees raising the rape gangs is a ‘far-right bandwagon’.
Labour are part of the cover up.
Shadow Home Office minister, Katie Lam MP responded to Powell, writing on X: “Say that grooming gangs are a fact and a stain on our country, not a “dog whistle” — or resign”.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp and Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch (retweeting him) called on Powell to resign.
Independent MP Rupert Lowe wrote to Powell, saying:
“Your comments are deeply, deeply offensive. They diminish and mock the genuine and justified outrage felt by millions of British people. Your words trivialise one of the most shameful, festering scandals in British history: the industrial rape and sexual torture of young, working-class white girls by predominantly Pakistani men in towns and cities across the country.
“This was not a conspiracy theory. It was a documented, systemic failure of the state to protect vulnerable white girls. It continues today.
“To reduce this issue to a "dog whistle" is abhorrent and insulting. It is not a trumpet to be blown. It is a national disgrace that demands accountability, not such pathetic deflection.
“I urge you to do the right thing and issue an urgent public apology for your remarks. Dismissing this tragedy with such flippant language is reprehensible.”
I wrote, in a 16,000 like ratio of Powell:
When you were asked if you had seen a documentary about the rape gang scandal that your government is currently accused of mishandling, you said it was a "dogwhistle".
You dismissed the most serious kind of child sexual abuse as racist.
We all know what you meant.
Resign.
Then on the 8th of May, Conservative MP Jesse Norman asked the Commons,
“There is one other issue that I think we should highlight. The Leader of the House has received universal condemnation for dismissing concerns about grooming gangs as “dog-whistle politics”. In response, she put out a tweet that conspicuously did not contain an apology for what she had said. The Secretary of State for Health said that her remarks were “indefensible”, but the truth is that she has talked in the same way about grooming gangs from the Dispatch Box, when she accused people of jumping on bandwagons on 9 January this year in business questions.
I hope we can agree now that this is an extremely serious national issue and that no one, whether or not they hold public office, should be deflecting or denying its seriousness. I hope that in her response now, the Leader of the House will put aside party politics, avoid criticising others and speak from the heart. So I ask her: has she now watched the Channel 4 documentary, and if so, how does she feel about it? Does she agree that the dismissal of these entirely valid concerns has been one of the factors behind what even today remains a huge continuing national scandal. Will she now back the call of many victims for a comprehensive national inquiry into grooming gangs. Finally, would she like to take this opportunity to speak directly to the hundreds of vulnerable women involved, and say sorry?”
Powell responded, saying,
“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising what I said on an episode of “Any Questions” last week, so that I can be absolutely clear with the House today, and especially to the victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and grooming gangs, that I am very sorry for those remarks, as I made clear over the weekend. I, and every member of this Government, want your truth to be heard, wherever that truth leads. Your truly appalling experiences need to be acted on, for those responsible to be accountable and face the full force of the law, and for justice to be served. I would never want to leave the impression that these very serious, profound and far-reaching issues, which I have campaigned on for many years, should be shied away from and not aired—far from it. No stone will be left unturned.
What the victims want, first and foremost, is for action to be taken and for the many, many recommendations from previous inquiries to be implemented in full, including mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, for which I have called for nearly a decade. Shockingly, those recommendations remained sitting on the shelf until we came into government last year. Baroness Louise Casey, who conducted the no-holds-barred inquiry into Rotherham, is carrying out an audit on the scale, nature and characteristics of grooming gangs. She will be reporting soon. It will include the questions on ethnicity. Every police force in England and Wales has been asked to look again at historic grooming gangs cases. They will be reopened, where appropriate, to get the perpetrators behind bars. I hope the House is left in no doubt about my commitment to these issues and my apology to those victims for any distress I have caused them.”
The victims she refers to include Scarlett and her father Marlon, who appeared in the Channel 4 documentary, who told the Telegraph:
“Scarlett and I, who shared our story in the documentary despite the emotional challenges, are outraged by Lucy Powell.
“We feel abused and disrespected once again, and we did not anticipate this kind of treatment from our government leaders.”
Katie Lam later asked Powell in the Commons,
“Many members of the grooming and rape gangs that systematically abused white working class girls have never faced justice, and neither have the councillors, officials and police officers suspected of collusion and cover-up. Can we have a debate on the need for a national inquiry into these disgusting crimes? Will the Leader of the House tell us please who exactly it is she believes is using these horrors as a “dog whistle”?
Powell replied,
“Everybody up and down this country is horrified about the crimes that have been committed over many, many years by despicable grooming gangs. That is why we are, first and foremost, implementing the very many recommendations from the recent inquiries, most of which sat on the shelf until the general election last year. Those recommendations include mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, which is something I have campaigned on for many years, as have the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and the Minister for Safeguarding, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips). We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the victims of these terrible atrocities get truth, justice and accountability wherever that is needed.”
As you can see from the following footage, Powell dodged the question, acting as if she never dismissed the most heinous child sexual abuse scandal in British history, before sitting down beside Keir Starmer.
No wonder Starmer hasn’t sacked Powell: he dismissed the grooming gangs as a “far right bandwagon” back in January.
Labour cannot conceal the contempt that they have for Britain’s white working class and host majority. It comes as no surprise, then, that Starmer's unpopular government were given such a kicking by Reform UK at last week's local elections.
But someone who did come to Powell’s defence was BBC journalist Michael White, who wrote that
“I understand why Lucy Powell apologised for her “dog whistle” comment in our dishonest media world. But she was quite right. People like Tiny Tim would not have raised such issue if the groomers, murderers or rapists if they’d been one of their own.”
And in response to criticism,
“It was horrible, Paul. But it was a bit more complicated than that, wasn’t it ? Sex often is”
What is complicated about child gang-rape, Michael?
It is notable that White’s son, Sam White, was Chief of Staff to Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer from September 2021 to November 2022.
Sam White’s wife is Katie Jayne White, Labour MP for Leeds North West since the last election in 2024, who has never spoken about this issue — despite fresh convictions of a grooming gang in Leeds in late October 2024, of three brothers Shaha Amran Miah, Shaha Alman Miah, and Shaha Joman Miah (Sarj), the third of whom was accurately identified by convicted, now-released grooming hoax perpetrator Eleanor Williams in her diary and during her trial.
The rot in Labour runs deep.
You can watch the full episode of Tomlinson Talks on YouTube, Rumble, and right here on Substack.
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