A top Tory has been blasted for offering up what many are calling an excuse over his party’s failure to launch a national inquiry into grooming gangs — despite being in power for 14 years.
Chris Philp, now shadow home secretary, was left squirming under fire from Sky News’ Wilfred Frost, after attempting to criticise Labour for only just backing an official probe.
🧍♂️ Philp says Starmer was ‘dragged kicking and screaming’
Appearing on Sky this morning, Philp tried to hammer Keir Starmer over the weekend U-turn that saw the prime minister finally back a judge-led national inquiry into the sexual abuse of young girls.
“He’s not doing this because he wants to,” said Philp. “He’s doing it because he was forced to.”
He also accused Starmer of “smearing” those who raised concerns earlier in the year, claiming the PM perpetuated the same attitudes that led to historic cover-ups by labelling calls for an inquiry as “a far-right bandwagon.”
📺 But the presenter wasn’t having it
Frost calmly reminded Philp that it was the Tories who were in charge for 14 years and still failed to call for a national inquiry.
Philp claimed they’d taken action — referencing the 2014 Rotherham inquiry, the IICSA national child sex abuse inquiry, and a grooming gangs task force that led to 550 arrests.
But Frost wasn’t impressed, cutting through the spin:
“If the PM is guilty of taking six months too long… then your government is guilty of taking 14 years. Isn’t that worse?”
🤷♂️ ‘You could’ve done this yourself’
Philp then argued that a national inquiry only became necessary when Oldham Council called for one earlier this year. Frost called this an “excuse”, pointing out that a government genuinely committed to tackling abuse didn’t need permission from a local council.
Philp tried to insist the Tories had taken “extensive action” — before blaming the delay on the election being called. (He failed to mention that it was Rishi Sunak’s decision to call it early.)
🧾 Summary of excuses… and a missed opportunity
Philp’s argument boiled down to:
- It wasn’t needed until recently
- The Tories did plenty already
- Labour are late, so they’re worse
But viewers weren’t convinced. And Frost summed it up perfectly:
“You don’t get to attack someone for taking six months when you had 14 years to act.”
You can watch it below:
You may also like: Watch: Nick Ferrari absolutely rinses Treasury minister over £10bn project she can’t explain
