Finally! An apology of sorts, almost a week after Lucy Powell MP’s disastrous—or perhaps too candid—appearance on BBC Radio 4’s panel show Any Questions.
Powell’s apology to the elected chamber went
I hope the House is left in no doubt, Mr. Speaker, of my commitment to these issues and my apology to those victims for any distress I have caused.
No doubt she hopes it will be sufficient to disperse any of the lingering controversy she caused when she responded to a question about the documentary Groomed: A National Scandal. The programme uses interviews with victims to reveal the failures of municipal government to tackle decades of rape and torture—of vulnerable, working class white girls by gangs of predominantly Pakinstani-heritage men—within their juristdictions.
Upon hearing him mention the Channel 4 broadcast, she turned on Reform UK supporter Tim Montgomerie and declared:
Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Yeah, OK, let’s get that dog whistle out.
When apologising for this almost one week on, the MP for Manchester Central promised that
No stone will be left unturned, and what the victims want first and foremost is for action to be taken and for the many, many recommendations from the previous inquiries to be implemented in full, including mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse
Yet numerous victims—“first and foremost”—are pushing for a national inquiry. Part of the problem Powell faces is that the ‘little trumpet’ of serious allegations won’t go quiet. Worse still, her party leader, Keir Starmer, sees calls for a national inquiry into this particular form of child sexual abuse as a ‘far right’ issue. Between them, they’ve still got a lot to apologise for.
