PM personally intervenes to contact victims as ex-Labour minister joins calls for Jess Phillips to resign

Sir Keir Starmer is personally intervening to contact victims amid growing turmoil over the national care gangs investigation after a former Labor Secretary joined growing calls for safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to resign.

Tony McNulty, who served as a minister under Gordon Brown, said “the investigation is more important than the minister and the minister must go”.

It comes after four women who resigned from the inquiry’s victims liaison board called on Ms Phillips to resign in a letter to the home secretary, accusing her of labeling some of her claims as “false” and saying they had presented evidence to the contrary.

But in a sign of growing divisions, the five survivors invited to the panel said they would continue working with the inquiry only if Ms Phillips remained in office, the Guardian reported on Thursday.

The women contacted the Prime Minister and the home secretary, saying the conservation minister had “dedicated his life to hearing and amplifying the voices of women and girls who otherwise go unheard”.

Ellie-Ann Reynolds, one of four people who called on Ms. Phillips to resign, said the latest turning point for her was “an effort to change the mandate, to broaden it to downplay the racial and religious motivations behind our harassment.”

Ms Phillips told MPs on Tuesday that “allegations of deliberate delay, indifference or expansion and dilution of the scope of the investigation are false”.

But in their letter to Shabana Mahmood, the four victims say “evidence has since proven that we were telling the truth.”

It is understood the Prime Minister has personally contacted the victims, who have now resigned from the panel.

Speaking to Times Radio, Mr McNulty said: “When the minister becomes the story and gets in the way of policy implementation, especially in such a serious area, then the minister needs to go.”

He added: “The issue surrounding the grooming investigation is too important to risk saving an individual’s reputation.”

A Downing Street spokesman denied Ms Phillips had been sidelined, telling reporters: “Minister Phillips has spent his career fighting for victims and survivors and trying to protect them from abuse.

“And since taking office as minister for protection, he has been working incredibly closely with victims and survivors and is determined to deliver justice for them.”

The inquiry was thrown into further chaos on Wednesday afternoon when a second candidate was lined up to head the inquiry; Jim Gamble, thought to be the only remaining candidate, withdrew after survivors raised concerns that he had ties to the police.

It follows Lambeth’s former director of children’s services, Annie Hudson, who reportedly stood down on Tuesday, leaving the government to seek alternative candidates.

Ms Reynolds, Fiona Goddard, Elizabeth Harper and a woman signed simply “Jessica” state in the letter that there are five conditions that must be met before they can return to the advisory panel.

As well as Ms Phillips’ resignation, they are calling for “all survivors on the panel to be genuinely consulted about the appointment of a chair, which should be a former or sitting judge”, for victims to be able to speak freely without fear of retaliation, for the scope of the investigation to remain “laser focused” on gang grooming and for the current victim liaison to be replaced by a mental health professional.

But children’s minister Josh MacAlister insisted Ms Phillips would remain in the job, telling Sky News she had the “full support of the prime minister and the home secretary”.

Ms. Phillips was a “lifelong advocate and advocate for abused young girls,” he said, adding that she had “already demonstrated that she engages appropriately with survivors.”

Sir Keir Starmer also backed Ms Phillips at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday after Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch claimed she had “lost the trust” of the victims.

The Prime Minister said the protection minister “has more experience of tackling violence against women and girls than anyone else in this House”.

He told the House of Commons: “He will be joined by Louise Casey, two individuals who have spent decades advocating for those who have been abused and sexually abused and I certainly think they are the right people to take this forward.”

Mr MacAlister also refused to guarantee that the head of the inquiry would be the sitting judge “because we want to find the right person”, but promised that the scope of the inquiry would not be broadened.

“Baroness Jay, who was greatly respected by many of the survivors, was a social worker. Louise Casey herself was not a judge. We have great confidence in her,” he said.

Sir Keir Starmer previously announced he had enlisted Baroness Casey to “support” the work of the struggling inquiry after four women from the inquiry’s victims and survivors panel resigned.

The survivor’s letter, shared on Ms Goddard’s account

“This is a betrayal that destroys what little trust we have left.

“We have been failed by every institution that has sought to protect us. We have failed as children, we have failed by police who do not believe us, we have failed by social services that blame us, and we have failed by a system that protects our abusers.

“We will not participate in an investigation that repeats the same patterns of dismissal, secrecy and corporate self-preservation.”

Mr Gamble, a former police officer, criticized politicians for prioritizing “their own petty personal or political issues” and “playing games” with the investigation.

In his withdrawal letter, he said he was withdrawing from the appointment process due to a “lack of trust” in him among some survivors of grooming gangs “due to my previous profession.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are disappointed that the candidates to chair the inquiry have withdrawn. This is an extremely sensitive issue and we need to take our time to appoint the best person suitable for the role.”