Nigel Farage says the country should be “ashamed of” the grooming scandal that rocked Britain as he reignited calls for a national inquiry.
The Reform UK leader clashed with the ‘s Laura Kuenssberg as he defended after the billionaire attacked the UK Government over its handling of grooming gangs in a series of posts on X.
The billionaire owner of the social media platform, previously known as Twitter, suggested Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison” for denying requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.
He also attacked Sir , saying the Prime Minister failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.
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Nigel Farage is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg (Image: PA)
Mr Farage told the ’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that Mr Musk had used “very tough terms” but that “free speech was back” on X under his ownership.
And he took umbrage at the presenter for describing the victims of the scandal as being “let down”.
When asked why people in Britain are “angry”, leading them to join Reform UK, Mr Farage said: “The reopening of the grooming scandal – what should be called the mass rape scandal – has got people asking what has happened to our country.
“How could this have possibly ever happened, why would people want to cover it up? Why has there been no full public inquiry? People are angry about that and they are right to be, absolutely right to be.”
Mr Musk’s latest incendiary intervention on UK politics came after Ms Phillips, a safeguarding minister, instructed Oldham Council to launch its own local inquiry into historic child sexual abuse in the town, similar to inquiries set up in Rochdale and Telford.
The local authority had called for a government-led inquiry.
The tech tycoon suggested Sir Keir had failed to properly prosecute rape gangs while director of public prosecutions (DPP), and has repeatedly shared posts from Reform and Conservative MPs calling for a national inquiry.
Mr Musk, who is a key advisor to incoming US President , called the prime minister “two-tier Keir” and accused Ms Phillips of being a “rape genocide apologist”.
Pressing Mr Farage over Musk’s social media posts, Ms Kuenssberg later asked: “Nobody would deny that many, many young girls were appallingly let down by people across the piece but my question to you as a senior politician, somebody who wants to get to No 10…
“I am sorry but I really don’t think ‘let down’ is an acceptable way of putting this. It’s as if ‘oh well, it’s all a little bit of a pity’. No, what happened was absolutely awful in way that we should be absolutely ashamed of. Ashamed of in every way.”
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Mr Farage added: “”This man happens to be the richest man in the world, but equally, the fact that he’s bought Twitter now actually gives us a place where we can have a proper open debate about many things… We may find it offensive, but it’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” he said.
Earlier this week, Mr Farage distanced himself from Musk’s support for Tommy Robinson – a far-right activist who is serving a jail term for committing contempt of court.
Mr Farage added: “I just think people ask themselves, what has happened to our country? How could this possibly have happened? Why did everybody want to cover it up? Why has there been no full public inquiry?”
There have been several investigations into grooming gangs in various parts of England, including Rotherham, Bristol, Cornwall and Derbyshire.
An inquiry into abuse in Rotherham found 1,400 children had been sexually abused over a 16-year period, predominantly by British Pakistani men.
An investigation in Telford found that up to 1,000 girls had been abused over 40 years – and that some cases had not been investigated because of “nervousness about race”.
Police figures from 2023 reveal that group-based child sexual abuse accounted for 3.7% of all sexual offences against children reported to police.
According to the data, 26% of group-based child sexual abuse happened within families, compared with 17% involving groups including grooming gangs.