To think that Sadiq Khan needs investigated?

Absolutely.

@Bringemout I too struggled to see how the whole hideous scandal was allowed to go on for so long until this thread.

Why is it so hard to understand that people want victims heard, regardless of their background, religion or skin colour, and people in authority held to account, regardless of their religion, skin colour, gender or any other consideration.

This just isn’t going to fly anymore he lied about not knowing about this and it turns out the scale of offending is immense. People are now claiming being worried about unvetted migrant men is somehow racist because women already get raped in Britain, so whats a few more.

I didn’t understand how the grooming scandal happened until this week. I see all you rape apologist. We all see you.

said in letter to Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan on Friday evening.

There goes the theory of a pp who claimed Khan isn’t likely to be informed of operational police matters 🙄

It's only proper for it to me made clear if Khan has known anything about these sorts of things before this letter. It’s shameful that anyone ever brought his race into this over the truth for the women and girls.

I really think we need to just remove politics from this, it is just not ok for the UK to be a place where children are raped. It’s as simple as this. Any politician who wants to obfuscate around this really needs to just go.

I’ve been appalled by how many people on mumsnet really want to just turn a blind eye or are more worried about the optics than they are about victims. I don’t want my DD to grow up in a society where people (including women) take the rape of children so lightly. It makes me feel really sick. I don’t know if this is because of an issue with class or a genuine fear of stigmatising groups of people but nothing should ever be more important than the victims of some of the most horrendous crimes I have read about. What was done to a lot of these girls can only be described as sexual sadism. Not just rape but inflicting pain on young girls for fun,

I would ask people to really examine their conscience on this and reflect on what they think is right. I’m don’t want to harangue anyone but really go look at some of the reporting and what actually happened to these children, the grim details, and then decide if you are fine with it.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/met-police-london-reopen-grooming-gangs-probe-b1254846.html

Yeah he knew and he dodged questions about it.

@Serpentstooth perhaps but how would Obama fit into that list in that case?

I assumed @Serpentstoothwas being sarcastic…?

@Serpentstooth Are you saying that the Housing Minister should have been allowed to underpay stamp duty owing on her property purchase by £40,000 on the basis that she’s a working class woman? That Jess Phillips should not be criticised by rape survivors because she’s also a working class woman? That the man who has operational control of the Met should not face questions over ongoing allegations that he knew that grooming gangs were operating in London and did nothing about it because he’s a Muslim?

Do you really think that Obama faced more national and international opprobrium than Trump? Where does the fact that Prince Andrew, the literal definition of white, privileged and entitled, has continually featured on the front pages of newspapers of every political hue and been completely excoriated fit into this narrative?

And Angela Rayner. And Jess Phillips. Whatever can it be?

I hear what you are saying but I come to this as someone who doesn't live in London and therefore I'm neither aware nor to be honest very interested in the history or bad feelings between these 2 individuals.

So I see what a lot of people will see. Which was disrespectful tribal game playing on the part of a public figure.

Which is why I really don't think Mr Khan has done himself any favours here. He appears to have got his priorities very wrong.

I very much hope that there are other exchanges where he demonstrates a more responsible attitude. But even if there are that doesn't change the fact that this particular exchange took place. And the optics are really bad. And his attitude in this exchange must be deeply hurtful to victims and does nothing to encourage yet unidentified victims to speak out or to think they will be cared about and listened to.

I agree with a lot of what you say about Khan in the video question and non-answer exchange. He should answer more clearly especially with reference (now) to the recommendations in the Casey audit.

It's quite possible there are other statements and recordings on record that are more positive about addressing grooming gangs but I suspect they'd get less amplification.

I'm pretty sure though that Khan loathes Hall for understanable reasons. He has credible threats to his life and to his family from fringe nutters and Hall has often strayed close to endorsing their views on "Londonistan". (E.g. liking tweets with this content). But the girls and women need him to step up.

A more useful question line in future would be for assembly members to quiz the mayor (and commissioner and probably representatives of borough children' services) specifically about their data collection and any policy and practice changes made in the light of reports into CSE in Rotherham, Oldham et al.

To be clear, I am not excusing Khan's response to Hall's question. But if one doesnt know the history between these two it would come across as looking far worse on Khan's part. I live in London so maybe come across more publicity about Susan Hall who isnt really a nationally known figure.

So I don't think he needs investigating. I don't know what it would even mean and don't know who it would help either.

@Noodledog 👏

I don't think Sadiq Khan has done himself any favours in that exchange with Susan Hall.

He comes across as petty and tribal and therefore deeply disrespectful towards victims of terrible crimes. I don't understand what he hoped to achieve by making out that he didn't understand what sort of gang she was referring to when he quite obviously knows fine well.

It came across as though he thought that it would be some sort of "gotcha" if he got her to say Pakistani / Muslim grooming gangs.

And that is a big problem as it makes him look as though he has an issue with the ethnical and cultural identities of the perpetrators being spoken about plainly.

Which is of course a large part of why we got here in the first place.

There are many testimonials from the victims of these gangs which quite clearly attest to the part that culture and race has played in this terrible story. Mr Khan must be aware of this and his manner of faux naiveté is insulting to the victims. He appears more interested in playing games with Ms Hall and thereby casting asperstions on her character than he does in the truth.

@Fandango52 what is specifically under discussion on this thread is the accusation that grooming gangs are active in London and that despite the Mayor being made aware of this, he has continued to deflect and obfuscate on the subject.

Local police forces are responsible for the day to day investigation of crimes such as these under the UK’s decentralised policing structure. In turn the Met falls under the operational purview of the Mayor’s office.

I understand that, and I would suggest grooming gangs is actually a national issue. That’s why I think the HO have some involvement in this. They’re responsible for the grooming gang inquiry being set up at the moment.

He desperately tried to deflect Susan Hall’s questioning, tried to goad her into saying the word Pakistani so he could call her a racist. He’s a vile misogynist. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to hear that he knew what was going on.

@Fandango52 the Commissioner of the Met is legally accountable to the office of the Mayor for day to day operations and strategic priorities. The Home Office’s involvement in the Met is largely confined to the Met’s national functions eg counter terrorism and organised crime etc,

I’m also surprised by this, I was horrified by Rotherham, truly sickened. If we have an inkling of it happening somewhere else and it looks like it’s not being dealt with I would assume that people would care, at the very least women would care.

This isn’t about Khan personally, I’ve said before, I’m nit a londener, I don’t have any particular feelings about him personally, if it had been a white bloke I would feel exactly the same. It’s disappointing that the MET know that there are grooming gangs operating, Khan knew there were gangs. Between them they decided to pretend they had no idea. It is still happening and anyone who covers this shit up should be criticised.

It’s extraordinary to me how many people will run defence for this. But then I’m seeing people defend Jess Phillips and I don’t know how you can.

Someone in his role shouldn’t have deflected the questions about grooming gangs in London by implicitly suggesting they were motivated by racism. That’s a red flag ( bearing in mind his role over policing priorities)

it absolutely is. Amidst the usual predictable cries of racism and anything else required to shut it down. Meanwhile abuse coverups continue. History in the making again; nobody cares about women and girls.

Absolutely, but the Home Office also hold responsibility. I’m not confused about it. I actually know the differences between who does what quite well, as my Mum works for the Home Office and my cousin used to work for the Mayor.

He needs locking up. He knew exactly what has been going on. Disgusting pig of a man.

@Fandango52 The Mayor of London holds the role of Police and Crime Commissioner for London which, among other things, specifically gives the Mayor control over the Met’s policing priorities. It is easy to get confused by it all.