Keir Starmer is accused of snubbing whistleblower who helped expose Rotherham grooming gangs scandal in ‘stunning’ and ‘dismissive’ transfer – as PM faces recent backlash over fiasco

Sir Keir Starmer allegedly snubbed the whistleblower who exposed the Rotherham grooming gangs scandal.

The Prime Minster had been asked to meet with Jayne Senior, a youth services manager who played a major role in uncovering the rape gangs in the town.

When Sir Keir was the leader of the opposition in 2020, he was urged to meet with Ms Senior, who was a Labor councillor at the time.

There were also calls for him to launch an inquiry into Labour councillors accused of launching a campaign to ‘undermine her and damage her reputation’ in a bid to divert attention away from their ‘failure to protect children’.

However, his office declined both the meeting and calls for the inquiry with Ms Senior telling the Telegraph that the response she received was ‘shocking’ and ‘dismissive’.

‘I really thought that because of what I had whistleblown on and my role in Rotherham, I thought he would have at least asked for more information, or agreed to meet me, but no,’ Ms Senior said.

‘In opposition, Labour were up there shouting for women, for girls, for child abuse, sexual abuse, domestic abuse and then the minute that they become elected, where are they?’

Writing to Sir Keir in 2020, Georgina Halford-Hall, the chief executive of WhistleblowersUK, explained the role of Ms Senior in bringing the issue of grooming gangs in Rotherham to national attention.

In the letter, Ms Halford-Hall said Ms Senior ‘exposed the industrial scale abuse’ but became the ‘target of retaliation which regrettably emanates from the Labour Party’ describing it as a ‘hate campaign’.

Despite her calls for an investigation into the treatment of Ms Senior to be opened, Sir Keir’s office said it was not relevant to his role as leader of the party.

Ms Senior resigned as a Labour councillor the following year saying that she had been ‘the subject of ceaseless harassment and intimidation’.

A Labour Party spokesman said: ‘All complaints are treated seriously and thoroughly assessed in line with our rules and procedures. Complaints are assessed via a specific process, independent of the Leader’s Office, and this was clearly signposted in response to this correspondence at the time.’ 

It comes as pressure continues to build around calls for an inquiry into the Prime Minister’s handling of grooming gang cases during his time serving as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The row began on Thursday after Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips rejected a request by Oldham Council for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation, suggesting it would be best for the local council to investigate the issue instead.

While the proposed public inquiry would have focused on Oldham, grooming gangs have been exposed in numerous other parts of the country ranging from Newcastle to Oxford and Bristol. The abusers were predominantly Asian men. 

Sarah Wilson was groomed and raped by paedophiles in Rotherham for five years from the age of 11 – with one attack taking place in a school playground.

She wrote on X: ‘Jess Phillips needs to hang her head in shame!!! Anyone who denies an independent investigation has a lot to hide.’ 

Sammy Woodhouse was just 14 when she met her rapist, Arshid Hussain, who was jailed for 35 years in 2016. Hussain, known in Rotherham as Mad Ash, was reportedly contacted by the council about care proceedings.

She told LBC: ‘We have report, after report, after report telling us the same thing. We know what’s happening in this country because people like myself have been giving thousands of interviews to the mainstream media telling you about it.

‘What’s not happening is action – there’s not enough paedophiles being taken through the courts and when they are, they’re walking free. There’s no professionals being held to account.’

Whistleblower Maggie Oliver, who helped expose the failure to tackle paedophile gangs in Rochdale, said she had no faith in the Sir Keir’s desire to get to the truth after Labour blocked calls for a public inquiry.

And the Prime Minister was drawn into an extraordinary public spat with Elon Musk over his handling of the scandal during his five years as the DPP.

The series of social media posts by the X owner lambasting the PM came as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch demanded a public inquiry into Britain’s ‘rape gangs scandal’ after Ms Phillips was accused of blocking a probe.

Ms Badenoch said an inquiry into organised grooming gangs was ‘long overdue’. 

The Tesla founder Mr Musk said the Prime Minister was ‘complicit’ in ‘the worst mass crime in the history of Britain’.

The world’s richest man, who has emerged as Donald Trump’s right-hand man, also launched a vitriolic attack on safeguarding minister Ms Phillips over her decision to refuse a public inquiry, which triggered the latest row.

Mr Musk, who posted dozens of highly critical messages about child grooming in the UK on his social media site X, said Ms Phillips ‘deserves to be in prison’ for refusing a request for a Home Office-backed inquiry into the failure to deal with grooming gangs in Oldham. 

The multi-billionaire also renewed his six-month war of words with the PM, which Downing Street has been trying to calm down. ‘Who was the head of the Crown Prosecution Service when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013,’ he said.

‘Who is the boss of Jess Phillips right now? Keir Starmer. The real reason she’s refusing to investigate the rape gangs is that it would obviously lead to the blaming of Keir Starmer (head of the CPS at the time).’

Mr Musk also shared a post asking whether King Charles ‘should dissolve Parliament and order a general election… for the sake and security’ of Britain.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Mr Musk’s outspoken attacks on Sir Keir’s handling of the child-grooming scandal were ‘misjudged and certainly misinformed’.

But Ms Oliver, who runs a foundation supporting abuse victims, said it was time for a ‘totally independent’ investigation into the grooming of girls by gangs of paedophiles in towns and cities across the country.

The former Greater Manchester Police detective said Labour and the Conservatives were ‘equally to blame’ for failing to get to grips with the scandal – and suggested that the PM was among those who had questions to answer about their past decisions.

‘Keir Starmer, as the former DPP, is perhaps as guilty as anyone I know in where we find ourselves today,’ she said. ‘We `all know what’s going on, but I don’t trust a single one of those who to date have been entrusted with keeping our children safe and prosecuting serial rapists. They’ve failed. Repeatedly. Knowingly. Criminally.’   

Mr Streeting defended the Government’s record and told ITV News that ministers took child sexual exploitation ‘incredibly seriously’.

He urged Mr Musk to work with the Government on tackling online abuse of children.

He added: ‘Some of the criticisms that Elon Musk has made, I think are misjudged and certainly misinformed, but we’re willing to work with Elon Musk, who I think has got a big role to play with his social media platform to help us and other countries to tackle this serious issue.

‘So if he wants to work with us and roll his sleeves up, we’d welcome that.’

The Health Secretary insisted ministers supported an inquiry into the Oldham scandal, but said it had to be led locally.

‘We would absolutely encourage and work with Oldham in establishing their own inquiries,’ he added.