Tory chief Kemi Badenoch claims a tradition of ‘concern and obfuscation’ in Whitehall let grooming gangs go unpunished

A culture of ‘fear and obfuscation’ in Whitehall let grooming gangs go unpunished, Kemi Badenoch says today.

The Tory leader attacks what she sees as the civil service’s reluctance to tackle ‘difficult’ issues.

Writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, she says: ‘We have failed to get to the bottom of how national-scale child sexual abuse happens, for fear of causing offence.’ She adds: ‘And it isn’t just our government bodies.

‘It’s also the safeguarding institutions who are obsessed about ‘inflaming community tensions’ or being seen as ‘targeting’ an ethnic group.’ 

Mrs Badenoch is also calling for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal – after Home Office minister Jess Phillips rejected a request for one by Oldham Council.

Kemi Badenoch has attacked what she sees as the civil service’s reluctance to tackle ‘difficult’ issues

Badenoch said that an inquiry should ‘consider the likely racial or religious motivation of these crimes’. Pictured: Keir Starmer

She says an inquiry should ‘consider the likely racial or religious motivation of these crimes’.

‘It should identify the bodies that failed as well as the individuals who facilitated or ignored these crimes so they can be removed from their roles,’ she adds.

In an exclusive interview in today’s YOU magazine, Ms Badenoch also says her reputation for being confrontational is all down to others mistaking her confidence for arrogance.

The Tory leader confesses that the ‘red mist descends’ if she is confronted with dishonesty.  But she also admits she may have to change. 

‘I treat people the way that I would treat myself,’ she says.

‘But now I’m realising I can’t do that because I’m not like everybody else. I have thicker skin, so I have to learn to mellow myself for people who don’t have the hide of a rhino.’