Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has spoken about her fears for her safety after Elon Musk unleashed a torrent of abuse against her over the child grooming scandal.
Ms Phillips found herself at the centre of an international storm when she decided not to agree to a national inquiry into child grooming and rape across towns in the north of England because one had already been conducted.
The attacks were led by the X social media platform boss who described her as “a witch” and a “rape genocide apologist”.
Speaking to ITV News, she said: “Of course I worry about my safety. Of course, and you have to, you know, anyone who has worked in the fields of violence against women and girls. Risk is dynamic and I have to take account of the risks in my life and this is one of them currently.”
The Tesla boss has launched a series of baseless attacks on the Labour government over grooming gangs, while also calling for the release of jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson – a development which also saw him turn on Reform leader Nigel Farage on Sunday, claiming he “does not have what it takes” to lead the party.
Key Points
- Keir Starmer’s Labour opens 2025 with ‘lowest approval ratings to date'
- Elon Musk claims his grandmother might have been abducted in modern Britain
- Errol Musk suggests British public are free to ignore his son’s interventions
- Nigel Farage says he will try to ‘mend any broken fences’ with Musk
Tories to seek support for new child grooming inquiry in symbolic vote
07:25
Andy Gregory
The Conservatives will seek to garner support for a new nationwide child grooming investigation with a symbolic vote in the Commons later today, amid an ongoing spat between ministers and billionaire Elon Musk.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government has faced a slew of attacks from the X and Tesla owner in recent days, after Home Office minister Jess Phillips declined a request for a nationally led inquiry in Oldham in favour of a council-led investigation.
Ms Phillips said she faced an increased risk to her safety since Mr Musk called her a “rape genocide apologist”, and the prime minister has signalled the businessman crossed a line with his criticism and was spreading misinformation.
The Tories have joined calls by Mr Musk for a new UK-wide inquiry into child sexual abuse, despite a wide-ranging independent probe having concluded its work in 2022.
On Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch’s party will bring forward an amendment to the government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is expected to call for ministers to establish a “national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs”.
Jon Sopel | Make no mistake, Farage has a real Musk problem
07:00
Andy Gregory
In his latest piece for Independent Voices, Jon Sopel writes:
You know that moment when your child gets home from school and you’re aware something bad has happened? Then, it all comes out: the person your child thought was his new best mate isn’t that nice after all. And he’s worried that his other longstanding friend might side with him, because the other two seem really tight. And you listen attentively, if slightly bewildered, to learn the spat is all the fault of that horrid kid in the class, Tommy.
Well, in this story it’s Nigel Farage who’s fallen out with the school’s Mr Flash – Elon Musk... all because Nige hasn’t shown loyalty to another kid, Tommy (Robinson, of course), who has been expelled. And Farage is worried that his longstanding best friend, Donald Trump, might side with Elon because they seem inseparable – always hanging around the playground together, sniggering at the back of the classroom, Elon letting Don copy his algebra homework.
If it wasn’t so consequential for British politics, it might be easy just to play it for laughs.
But it does matter. Having played an outsized role in the US presidential election in November – and few can doubt Musk’s significance, both in terms of financial muscle and his alleged recalibration of the X algorithm to promote and amplify Trump’s messages – it looks like the world’s richest man is turning to the UK as his next political playground.
Tories accuse Labour of ‘educational vandalism’
06:00
Andy Gregory
The government’s plan for all state schools – academies and those run by councils – to follow the same pay and conditions framework is “educational vandalism”, the shadow education secretary has warned.
Laura Trott accused Labour of being set on “tearing up everything that has driven up school standards” through its Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
The Bill – which is due to have its second reading in Parliament on Wednesday – has prompted fears that academies will lose freedoms which can help to recruit teachers and improve pupil outcomes in challenging areas.
Academies – which are independent of local authorities – currently have the freedom to set their own pay and conditions for staff, and some academies exceed the national pay scales for teachers. But under the new legislation, all teachers will be part of the same core pay and conditions framework whether they work in a local authority-run school or an academy.
ICYMI: Nigel Farage says he won’t sue Kemi Badenoch over Reform membership claim
05:00
Andy Gregory
Nigel Farage has said he will not take legal action against Kemi Badenoch over her claim Reform UK had faked its membership numbers.
He told LBC: “I’m not going to sue over it because, as I said, I do believe in free speech. I was offended by it, I asked for an apology and one wasn’t given so I’m going to go to her constituency on the 31st of this month.
“I’m going to hold a big event for all the Reform members living in her constituency, there are 417 of them when I last checked, paid-up members, bet it’s more than she’s got. There’s another 800 supporters living in the constituency.
“And I’m going to do a big joint photo, Kemi, and say ‘these are all our fake members and we are coming for you at the next election’.”
Musk and Starmer: A history of their relationship from the Southport riots to grooming gang claims
04:00
Andy Gregory
Sir Keir Starmer has begun this year in an explosive row with tech billionaire Elon Musk, which broke out after the Tesla boss criticised the government for rejecting a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.
Our political correspondent Millie Cooke takes a look at their past interactions here:
Not enough determination to get to bottom of grooming scandals, whistleblower warns
03:00
Andy Gregory
There is still not a strong enough determination to get to the bottom of grooming scandals, a whistleblower has said.
Maggie Oliver, a former detective who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012, believes victims and survivors would have to be “at the centre” of any inquiry.
She told Times Radio: “The question has to be, who would lead it? What would it achieve? Victims and survivors have to be at the centre of this.”
She added: “The 20 recommendations of the national abuse inquiry have still not been implemented - that’s the start.
“Maybe gather together all the evidence we already have from the local inquiries in Rochdale, in Rotherham, in Manchester, and that could be the start of the process, add victims’ voices to that, and have people who are truly knowledgeable analysing it. Well, maybe that’s the way forward.”
Government unable to give timeline for implementing child sex abuse inquiry recommendations
02:00
Andy Gregory
The victims minister was unable to provide a timeline for implementing the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, saying the Government was working “quickly”.
Alex Davies-Jones told Times Radio: “I can’t give you a timeline but what I can tell you is we are working very, very quickly.
“A lot of these recommendations can be implemented quickly. As you heard from the Home Secretary yesterday, we’ve already begun that work and some of those new offences that have been announced will be in our Crime and Policing Bill brought in later this year.”
Adding that the Government would provide “more information soon”, she said: “I want to do this as quickly as possible. It’s very complicated, this is not a quick fix overnight.”
Watch: Elon Musk’s father believes ‘good chance’ Tommy Robinson will be prime minister one day
01:00
Andy Gregory
MPs grill McDonald’s boss on labour rights amid sexual harrassment claims
Tuesday 7 January 2025 23:59
Andy Gregory
McDonald’s is facing fresh claims of widespread harassment across its UK branches as hundreds of young current and former workers join a legal action against the company.
More than 700 people who were aged 19 or younger when working at McDonald’s have instructed law firm Leigh Day to take legal action on their behalf. The claims come as UK chief executive Alistair Macrow faced questions from MPs on Tuesday on employment rights.
UK long-term borrowing costs jump to highest level since 1998
Tuesday 7 January 2025 23:00
Andy Gregory
The UK’s long-term government borrowing costs have lifted to their highest level since 1998, in a potential blow for the Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
The yield on 30-year gilts – the return on Government bonds – increased on Tuesday by four basis points to 5.22 per cent, surpassing the spike seen in 2023.
It ramps up the pressure on the Treasury’s headroom for increased public spending, amid the prospect of higher interest costs.
Henry Saker-Clark has the full report:
Breaking: Conservatives to seek support for new child grooming inquiry in symbolic vote
Tuesday 7 January 2025 22:30
Jabed Ahmed
The Conservatives will seek to garner support for a new nationwide child grooming investigation with a symbolic vote in the Commons, amid an ongoing spat between ministers and billionaire Elon Musk.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Government has faced a slew of attacks from X and Tesla owner Mr Musk in recent days, after Home Office minister Jess Phillips declined a request for a nationally led inquiry in Oldham.
The Tories have joined calls by Mr Musk for a new UK-wide inquiry into child sexual abuse, despite a wide-ranging independent probe having concluded its work in 2022.
On Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch’s party will bring forward an amendment to the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is expected to call for ministers to establish a “national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs”.
The amendment is unlikely to be supported by a majority in the Commons, as the Government wants to roll out the recommendations of the investigation led by Professor Alexis Jay rather than open a new inquiry.
The non-binding amendment could not compel ministers to launch an inquiry and merely gives MPs a chance to voice their opinion on the issue.
A Labour spokesperson claimed the Conservatives were “attempting to block this Government’s plans to keep the most at-risk children in our country safe from harm”.
Wes Streeting acknowledges ‘eye-watering’ social care costs facing families
Tuesday 7 January 2025 22:00
Andy Gregory
Individuals are shouldering an “imbalance” in paying for social care, Wes Streeting said as he was confronted about the sums one family is facing.
The health secretary has faced criticism in recent days for not giving a hard deadline on his plans to create a National Care Service, aimed at tackling the massive costs of social care. An independent commission is expected to begin exploring the future of the service in the spring, but its timeline means proposals for long-term funding and major reform may not be delivered until 2028.
As he took questions from LBC radio listeners, a woman from Leeds told the health secretary she is paying £85,000 a year to provide care for her 97-year-old mother, who has dementia – meaning her family savings and the proceeds from selling her mother’s home are swiftly being eroded.
“It sounds really terrible, but sometimes I even find myself wishing that my mum would pass away soon, before it’s all gone and the family is left with absolutely nothing. And it shouldn’t be about money, but unfortunately, it is,” she said.
The caller added: “I want to know, when will something be done to stop this happening? And I need a real answer, not just the sort of ‘we get it, we have no money’ kind of answer.”
Mr Streeting described the sums as “eye-watering”, adding: “I think that where we’ve got to as a country is a situation where I think the burden on individuals and families and the state is imbalanced, and it’s almost a game of pot luck and chance.”
New duty to report child sex abuse should include teachers and sports coaches, No 10 says
Tuesday 7 January 2025 21:00
Andy Gregory
A new legal duty to report child sexual abuse should apply to people engaged in regulated activities with children, including teachers, healthcare professionals, sports coaches and faith instructors, No 10 has said.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Monday that ministers would begin implementing the recommendation by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse to bring in mandatory reporting.
More details are expected to be set out in the coming weeks.
Watch: Elon Musk's 'disinformation' is endangering me, says Jess Phillips
Tuesday 7 January 2025 20:16
Jabed Ahmed
Watch: Robert Jenrick in heated clash with BBC's Nick Robinson over grooming gangs
Tuesday 7 January 2025 20:00
Andy Gregory
UK ‘must become to wind what Saudi Arabia is to crude oil’, says Labour MP
Tuesday 7 January 2025 19:30
Andy Gregory
The United Kingdom must “become to wind what Saudi Arabia is to crude oil”, a Labour MP has urged.
Henry Tufnell, MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire, told the House of Commons: “In our United Kingdom, one of our biggest and most powerful natural resources is wind. To cut bills, deliver energy security and achieve net zero, we have to become to wind what Saudi Arabia is to crude oil.”
Speaking during a debate on new legislation to give the Crown Estate new borrowing powers, he added: “The population of South Wales and the South West will never forgive us if we don’t seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redevelop their regional economies.”
Liberal Dem energy spokesperson Pippa Heylings had earlier told MPs: “While the new borrowing powers will enable investment in offshore wind, they will also facilitate property development across the 185,000 acres of the Crown Estate, so this Bill must do more to ensure that these developments do not ride roughshod over community concerns regarding planning, infrastructure and environmental standards, both on land and at sea.
“People must have a say in the decisions that affect them, and where infrastructure’s concerned they should also receive the benefits where appropriate.”
What the London Stock Exchange exodus could mean for Britain
Tuesday 7 January 2025 19:01
Andy Gregory
Last year saw the biggest outflow of companies from the London Stock Exchange since the global financial crisis.
According to accountants EY, 88 companies, including Paddy Power owner Flutter, travel group Tui and Just Eat, abandoned the London market for US and European exchanges.
It comes amid fears of the capital’s shrinking relevance as a place to do business following Britain’s exit from the European Union.
The shrinkage of London as a global market has been steady. Twenty years ago, when banks, manufacturers, oil companies and pharmaceutical firms dominated lists of the biggest companies, UK-listed stocks accounted for 11 per cent of the global market. Now it is about 4 per cent.
The trend is as much about America’s growth as it is about London’s shrinkage as the US and its giant tech stocks have dominated world markets.
Howard Mustoe has more analysis here:
Plans to boost Crown Estate borrowing powers will help aid net zero transition, MPs told
Tuesday 7 January 2025 18:32
Andy Gregory
Plans to give the Crown Estate more borrowing powers will help it return more money to taxpayers and aid the transition to net zero, MPs have been told.
Opening a Commons debate ahead of a new Bill’s second reading, Treasury minister Darren Jones said it would change the outdated Crown Estate Act 1961 and bring it into place for the modern age.
He said: “The Crown Estate is a commercial business, independent from government, that operates for profit and competes in the marketplace for investment. Yet it is restricted in its ability to do so by legislation that has not been amended since 1961.
“With less ability to compete and to invest, it is less able to deliver returns for the public purse than it might otherwise be able to do.”
The new Bill will enable the Crown Estate to decarbonise and redevelop land it owns in the West End of London, Mr Jones said, adding that it will be able to seek finance from external partners, including in the City of London, and invest in more schemes with the aim of getting a financial return.
Full report: Jess Phillips worries about her safety after Elon Musk social media attacks
Tuesday 7 January 2025 18:21
Jabed Ahmed
The Independent’s Political Editor David Maddox reports:
Musk’s social media posts are ‘ridiculous’, Jess Phillips says
Tuesday 7 January 2025 18:13
Jabed Ahmed
Elon Musk’s social media posts are “ridiculous” and the social media mogul “knows absolutely nothing” about the subject of grooming gangs, Jess Phillips has said.
Asked about the billionaire, who accused her of being a “rape genocide apologist” after she declined a request for a Whitehall-led inquiry into child sexual abuse in Oldham, Home Office minister Ms Phillips told ITV News: “It’s ridiculous isn’t it? The things that he’s saying are so ridiculous as to initially make me just go what?
“But then you wake up with the realisation that that’s millions of people that he has said that to and you feel immediately like this is going to turn my world upside down and I have to try and limit for how long that is the case.
“But you know, your immediate, my immediate thought was like just, it’s sort of like, what a joke. And then the realisation of what this is probably going to mean for you.”
Asked if it had turned her world upside down, Ms Phillips replied: “Yeah a little bit, a lot. Well, a lot actually it’s… it’s not great.”
She added: “The thing that annoys me the most about it is it takes up so much bandwidth of my time from a man who knows absolutely nothing about the subject he’s talking about, when the only thing I ever want to be doing is being able to use all of my brain power to focus on the hundreds of girls I have supported over the years who have been victims of grooming gangs and what needs to happen to make their lives better and to stop what is still happening today.”
Government savings from winter fuel payment changes falling fast, analysis claims
Tuesday 7 January 2025 18:04
Andy Gregory
Government savings from last year’s changes to the winter fuel payment are already less than planned, new analysis has revealed.
Announcing the cutting back of the cold weather benefit in July last year, Rachel Reeves said the measure would shave £1.4bn from the DWP bill this financial year. This was done by means-testing the payment to make only pensioners claiming pension credit eligible for it.
But research from Policy in Practice shows that the number of new pension credit claims meant the government had been forced to overspend on the change already, in the first week of January. And any more claims made before April will continue to eat into the savings further.
My colleague Albert Toth has more details:
Full report: Farage says he hopes to ‘mend’ relationship with Elon Musk on trip to US
Tuesday 7 January 2025 17:38
Andy Gregory
Nigel Farage has said he hopes to “mend” his relationship with Elon Musk when he travels to the US for Donald Trump’s inauguration, after the two men had a bitter falling out this week.
He also attempted to step up the pressure on Sir Keir Starmer over grooming gangs, claiming his Reform party would be prepared to set up an unofficial “inquiry” within weeks if the government did not.
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has more in this report:
Grooming gang survivors being politically exploited, journalist warns
Tuesday 7 January 2025 17:09
Andy Gregory
Journalist Andrew Norfolk, who exposed the Rotherham grooming gang scandal in 2011, has warned that survivors are being “exploited” for political purposes.
He told the News Agents podcast: “As justice secretary, Michael Gove was instrumental in changing the rules on which judges could sit on these complex cases. As director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer changed the rules to enable more prosecutions.
“I genuinely think those individuals got it eventually and did their best to affect change for the better. And in many cases, we still have a very far from perfect system, and of course abuse is still going on and every single child that falls victim to these men is one child far too many.
“But to suddenly have this explosion of interest and calls for inquiries, it just feels all wrong to me.”
Asked if he feels survivors are now being used for political purposes, he said: “100 per cent. But the far right – that’s been the case since day one.”
He added: “It’s being used for the very wrong reasons. These girls .. are being exploited all over again. And for now politicians to jump on the bandwagon again when they’ve been silent for so many years just strikes me as a bit shameful.”
"These girls are being exploited all over again. Politicians jumping on the bandwagon after years of silence is ."
— The News Agents (@TheNewsAgents) January 7, 2025
Andrew Norfolk, who exposed the grooming gang scandal in 2011, condemns the reuse of the abuse for political gain.@maitlis | @lewis_goodall pic.twitter.com/BsAYJODMCs
Minister defends Rachel Reeves’ upcoming visit to China
Tuesday 7 January 2025 16:40
Andy Gregory
The UK must “sometimes be involved” with countries whose values “may not completely align with ours”, Foreign Office minister Catherine West has said, in defence of chancellor Rachel Reeves’s upcoming visit to China.
Referring to arrest warrants issued for pro-democracy activists resident in the UK by Hong Kong police, shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel told the Commons: “Doesn’t this once again show this government’s supposed reset with China is just one way?
“Before meeting President Xi, the prime minister had said he wanted a relationship that is consistent, durable and respectful, and stated that the pair agree that there be no more surprises.”
She added: “Can the minister confirm with a simple yes or no whether the Chancellor is going to be raising these bounties at the highest level when she jets off to China next week to beg for a quick investment for the bailout of her failing economic strategy? She cannot ignore the human rights issues on her visit.”
Ms West replied: “We’re in a position where our economy is quite fragile and whilst we have very clear national security concerns – and today’s a really good example of those – we do have to balance those with being an outwardly facing and globally-trading nation, where we need to sometimes be involved with other countries where their values may not completely align with ours.
“So, I make no apologies for trying to support British business abroad, including in Hong Kong, where British businesses have said it is so lovely to see MPs visit us.”
Starmer backs minister caught up in corruption probe as standards watchdog investigates
Tuesday 7 January 2025 16:12
Andy Gregory
Sir Keir Starmer is standing by his Treasury minister amid a standards watchdog probe into her links with the deposed former prime minister of Bangladeshi.
The prime minister has “full confidence” in Tulip Siddiq, who on Monday referred herself to ethics advisor Sir Laurie Magnus amid questions over her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who was removed from power after protests against her rule last year.
His spokesman repeated Sir Keir’s insistence that he is backing Ms Siddiq, whose job includes the responsibility for tackling financial crime, insisting that it is “now for the independent advisor to establish the facts” about her case.
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:
Voices | Could this be the breaking point for the Trump-Musk bromance?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 15:44
Andy Gregory
In a piece for Independent Voices, Anand Menon and Jonathan Portes write:
Civil war has broken out in the Trump camp. On one side, Elon Musk, unsuccessful presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and other tech entrepreneurs, many of them relatively recent recruits to the Republican Party. On the other, die-hard Maga supporters like Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer.
The casus belli? The “H-1B” visa programme – loosely the equivalent of the UK’s skilled work visa.
For Musk and co, the software engineers and the like who arrive with H-1Bs, they are essential both to the success of their own businesses and the US’s economic future – concepts they seem to view as largely synonymous. For Maga, however, they represent just another element of the plot by elites to flood the US with immigrants, boosting corporate profits, and undercutting American wages, while at the same time “replacing” white Americans of European origin with mostly non-whites.
Read the full analysis here:
Government’s approval rating falls to new low
Tuesday 7 January 2025 15:20
Andy Gregory
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour has begun the new year with its lowest government approval rating to date, according to YouGov polling.
According to surveys from 4 to 6 January, 16 per cent of the public approved of the government, down one point from the previous week, while 63 per cent disapproved – giving Sir Keir’s administration a net approval rating of -47, just below that of Rishi Sunak’s government in May 2023.
The pollster also found that four in 10 Labour voters now disapprove of the government’s record to date, compared with 36 per cent who approve.
Four in ten Labour voters now disapprove of the government's record to date
— YouGov (@YouGov) January 7, 2025
Approve: 36% of Labour voters (+2 from 28-30 Dec 2024)
Disapprove: 40% (+2)
Net: -4 (=)https://t.co/EDgUC075IB pic.twitter.com/Z3IKpsUMdw
No 10 briefing room given £80,000 ‘politically neutral’ refurbishment
Tuesday 7 January 2025 15:05
Andy Gregory
The government has spent up to £80,000 to make Downing Street’s press briefing room a “politically neutral setting” – after Boris Johnson’s administration spent £2.6m converting the space into a TV briefing room that opened in 2021, a move Labour at the time labelled a “vanity project”.
Mr Johnson had planned to hold White House-style press briefings in the room on camera, but scrapped the idea. The room has since been used to host press conferences as well as the daily lobby briefing for journalists.
The blue panels which had formed the backdrop to the press conference stage have now been replaced with wood panels with inlaid lighting. But in a sign the works are not yet complete, a rough wooden batten remained screwed to the central panel.
Asked about the refurbishment, the PM’s official spokesperson said: “A one-off refresh of the Number 9 media briefing room took place to restore the room to a politically neutral setting.
“The panelling restores the room back to its original state. As you will be aware the cost is obviously a fraction of what the previous administration spent on the room.”
Government considers making ketamine a class A drug after record use recorded
Tuesday 7 January 2025 14:49
Jabed Ahmed
Ketamine could be reclassified as a class A drug as the Government seeks expert advice after illegal use surged to record levels last year.
In the year ending March 2023, an estimated 299,000 people aged 16 to 59 had reported use of the substance, which is currently controlled as class B, according to the Home Office.
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson will write to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs asking whether its classification should be changed and “carefully consider” its findings.
The Home Office cited recent reports suggesting the substance is often found in so-called “pink cocaine”, a synthetic cocktail of drugs, as it announced the move.
The maximum penalty for producing and supplying ketamine is up to 14 years in prison.
In a prevention of future deaths report, she said keeping ketamine as class B would be “likely to encourage others to start to use it or continue to use it under the false impression it is ‘safer’”.
Tory ministers opened £1,500 bottle of Cognac in the dying days of the Sunak government
Tuesday 7 January 2025 14:35
Andy Gregory
Conservative ministers opened a more than 100-year-old bottle of cognac from the government wine cellar in the dying days of Rishi Sunak’s administration, the Foreign Office has said.
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Starmer warned NHS overhaul will not work without fixing staff shortage
Tuesday 7 January 2025 14:16
Andy Gregory
The country’s largest medical union has issued a stark warning on Labour’s planned NHS overhaul, claiming ongoing staffing pressures could undermine ambitious plans to reduce cut waiting lists.
Latest figures published by NHS England reveal there were 32,000 nurse vacancies last year, while Lord Darzi’s report last month showed there were almost 16 per cent fewer qualified GPs in UK than other comparitive countries.
The British Medical Association (BMA) fears the shortage could be worsened if Labour fails to focus on retaining staff – and has warned that a lack of staff could jeopardise the party’s plan to roll out more surgical hubs and extend the hours of community diagnostic centre hours.
“In terms of medical staff, if you’re taking medical staff from hospitals to work in a surgical hub or community diagnostic centre you’re just shuffling around the same people,” BMA consultant co-lead Dr Helen Neary told The Independent.
Rachel Clun has the full report:
Israel must act immediately to end man-made humanitarian crisis in Gaza, minister says
Tuesday 7 January 2025 13:59
Andy Gregory
In the House of Commons, Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer has said that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is “man-made” and Israel “must act immediately to address it”.
During an urgent question on the situation in northern Gaza, he told MPs: “The UK condemns Israel’s restriction on aid in the strongest terms. The scale of human suffering is unimaginable. We have been clear this is a man-made crisis, and Israel must act immediately to address it.”
He added: “Air strikes within the designated humanitarian zone show there are no safe spaces left for civilians. Reports of up to eight children having died from cold weather conditions are unconscionable.
“It is unacceptable that many medical facilities are no longer in use or are inaccessible to humanitarian actors and we remain deeply concerned by reports of medics being killed or injured. I have raised this, and will continue to raise this with both the Israeli deputy foreign minister and Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.”
Following shouts of “they don’t care” from opposition benches, Mr Falconer said: “The foreign secretary, working with his French and German counterparts, wrote to the government of Israel in November to press them to ensure adequate preparations for winter.”
Watch | Elon Musk’s father believes ‘good chance’ Tommy Robinson will be prime minister one day
Tuesday 7 January 2025 13:40
Andy Gregory
Full report: Chair of child sex abuse inquiry denounces Musk over grooming gangs
Tuesday 7 January 2025 13:11
Andy Gregory
Keir Starmer has received a boost in his grooming gangs row with Elon Musk after the head of the national child sex abuse inquiry backed the prime minister.
Professor Alexis Jay backed Sir Keir by saying there is no need for a new national investigation into the issue.
In a pointed intervention the chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) said those “whipping up” the current furore do not have the interests of victims at heart. Instead of demanding a new inquiry they should “step up to the mark” and implement measures already recommended to tackle the problem.
In her first comments since Musk, backed by the Tories, launched a ferocious attack on Starmer, Prof Jay told the BBC: “I have heard very little in the public discourse that has taken place in the last few days – if you can dignify it with that description – that has mentioned children and the appalling and lifelong effects that child sexual abuse can have on people.”
Our political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
No 10 insists new actions to tackle child sex abuse not due to Musk row
Tuesday 7 January 2025 12:50
Andy Gregory
Downing Street insisted that action to implement some of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s recommendations had not been taken as a result of the ongoing row on the subject.
Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson said: “The government has been working since it came into office on measures to protect children, to halve violence against women and girls.
“On mandatory reporting, the Prime Minister and Home Secretary called for these changes 10 years ago. Work on the mandatory reporting criminal offence, the write-round for that kicked off last year and obviously has just concluded ahead of the announcement, so obviously that work’s been ongoing for some time.”
He added: “It’s important the government explains to the public how seriously the government is taking this issue, so I think it’s natural in response to the recent coverage the government explains what the government’s been doing in this space.
“As Alexis Jay spoke about... the government has been engaged with her, with victims’ groups, since the election it’s been working on a number of these measures.”
Tory MP warns that UK-US ‘security is too important for clickbait politics'
Tuesday 7 January 2025 12:36
Andy Gregory
As Elon Musk continues his social media attacks on the UK government, a Tory MP has warned that UK-US security “is too important for clickbait politics”.
Mark Pritchard wrote on X: “I know the importance of the US/UK security relationship. A partnership that saves American lives everyday.
“UK is, in some respects, the junior partner, but there are skills [and] capabilities where the USA looks to UK for expertise. Security is too important for clickbait politics.”
It comes after Bloomberg reported that senior politicians in Labour, the Tories and Reform have privately urged allies of Donald Trump that the US president-elect should rethink his relationship with Mr Musk in the wake of the latter’s flurry of wild claims.
Reform ‘probably dodged a bullet’ on Musk donation, Tory defector says
Tuesday 7 January 2025 12:12
Andy Gregory
Reform has “probably dodged a bullet” in not receiving the multimillion pound reportedly being mulled by Elon Musk, a recent Tory defector to the party has said in the wake of the billionaire’s attack on Nigel Farage.
Tim Montgomerie, founder of the ConservativeHome website who joined Reform last month after 33 years as a Tory member, told BBC Newsnight: “I think Elon Musk is a brilliant man. He’s the Da Vinci of our age in many ways. Look at Tesla, look at SpaceX, look at Twitter.
“But you can’t tweet 20 times in an hour on different subjects and know what you’re talking about all the time. There’s a thin line between craziness and genius, and I think on occasions recently we’ve definitely seen Elon Musk go on the crazy side of that line.
“And I think Reform have probably dodged a bullet. If that had happened a little while ago, they might have had money that they would have had to pay back. Not getting that money now is probably going to turn out to be an advantage. I didn’t think that six weeks ago, but I do now.”
Robert Jenrick clashes with BBC’s Nick Robinson over grooming gang row
Tuesday 7 January 2025 12:01
Andy Gregory
Robert Jenrick has defended the Conservatives’ record on bringing justice to victims of the grooming gang scandal during a heated clash with BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Nick Robinson, my colleague Lucy Leeson reports.
The shadow justice secretary was asked four times by the frustrated BBC journalist if he raised tougher sentences for grooming gang perpetrators when he was Home Office minister, between October 2022 and December 2023.
Mr Jenrick replied: “I did discuss this with the home secretary, I wrote about this last year and I was criticised about it.”
Mr Robinson then proceeded to tell the Tory MP he had not raised the issue – after checking search terms such as “grooming”, “grooming gangs”, “Rotherham”, “Oldham”, “Rochdale” and “child sexual abuse” in Hansard and finding no records under Mr Jenrick’s name in the parliamentary record.
When did the row between Sir Keir and Mr Musk begin?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 11:48
Andy Gregory
The row between the prime minister and the US tech billionaire had its origins in the riots that took place over summer in England and Northern Ireland.
Misinformation allowed to run rife on Musk’s social media platform X was blamed for helping to fuel racist far-right riots and attacks, sparking a crackdown on inflammatory social media posts associated with the disorder.
In Sir Keir’s first press conference following the violence that broke out in the wake of the Southport stabbings, he issued a direct warning to “large social media companies and those who run them”, saying that “violent disorder was clearly whipped up online.”
"That is also a crime”, the prime minister said. “It is happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere."
In response, Musk zeroed in on the efforts to police incendiary posts, accusing the UK of “two-tier” policing – a far-right claim suggesting police are taking a softer approach with left-wing and Islamic protesters than they are with white working-class protesters.
The row reached its peak after Musk claimed that “civil war is inevitable” in Britain, leading to condemnation from Downing Street, with a spokesperson warning there is “no justification for comments like that”.
While the immediate tension died down after the riots subsided, it was clear damage had been done to the relationship between the UK government and Mr Musk, with the Starmer administration opting not to invite the billionaire to a major investment summit held in London in October.
Our political correspondent Millie Cooke has more details:
Elon Musk claims his own English grandmother might have been abducted in modern Britain
Tuesday 7 January 2025 11:31
Andy Gregory
In his latest intervention, Elon Musk has suggested that his own English grandmother might have been a
