Jess Phillips Refuses to Say When Labour Will Appoint Rape Gang Inquiry Chairman – Guido Fawkes

WATCH: Jess Phillips Refuses to Say When Labour Will Appoint Rape Gang Inquiry Chairman

Jess Phillips this morning could not say when a chairman for the national statutory rape gangs inquiry would be appointed. It has been over a month since Starmer’s U-turn…

Starmer was bounced on 14 June into announcing an inquiry by Guido’s reporting. The line repeated then was the government “will appoint a chair as soon as possible.” That’s barely the first step in setting up the thing…

33 days later the safeguarding minister, along with saying she did not know why whips suspended four Labour MPs, said she did not know when the inquiry would take shape:

“So look, all of that work is currently being undertaken and you know it it won’t be too long until chairs are appointed. Obviously there’s huge amounts of due diligence and work that has to go into that and the terms of reference for the inquiry, where when how it starts. The inquiries act and and frankly good practice means that we we have to undertake that work alongside the chair because as people wanted it to be it is actually independent of me. So me saying where it will go or exactly how it will play out is not something that I am able to do now – that that will be for the chair and we are working at pace to get that.”

No structure without a chairman, no chairman without Labour appointing one. Asked whether there would be one before summer recess, Phillips pointed out that Casey recommended other courses of action in her audit and an inquiry “was just one and one she said was not the most important.” Can kicked firmly down the road…