Elon Musk “is not fit to lick Jess Phillips’ boots”, a BBC Question Time panellist has said as she hit back at the world’s richest man over his attacks on the Labour minister.
The tech billionaire said Phillips was a “rape genocide apologist” who should be in jail after she rejected calls from Oldham Council for a full national inquiry into the child grooming gangs scandal, which saw vulnerable young girls raped and tortured by groups of mainly British-Pakistani men.
Ministers have instead said the focus should be on implementing the recommendations of Professor Alexis Jay’s previous inquiry into child sexual abuse, which reported in 2022.
Broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika, who is also a Labour peer, said on Question Time Musk’s attacks on safeguarding minister Phillips were “absolutely disgusting”.
She said: “We’ve had two MPs murdered in recent times because of things getting too inflamed - two brilliant MPs, Conservative David Amess and Jo Cox from the Labour Party.
“So words do matter. Words have consequences in real life. The attacks he made on Jess Phillips were absolutely disgraceful.
“He knows nothing about Jess Phillips, clearly. I don’t think he knows that much about this country actually, in terms of the stuff he’s been tweeting. Because if he knew anything about Jess Phillips and the fact that she’s dedicated her life to helping women and girls who’ve been abused, he would know that he’s not fit to lick the boots of Jess Phillips on this.”
Hazarika added: “I hear the anger in the room [about grooming gangs]. Abuse against children is absolutely disgraceful. We know it happens in all walks of life, we know it’s happened in the Church of England, we know it’s happened in the Catholic Church.
“Now I am from a Muslim community and I have been absolutely appalled at what has happened, and so many Muslims have been appalled.
“Something very dark happened in these towns across out country, and I as a Muslim person have got to face up to the fact that something was happening in those communities. All good Muslims will think that as well.
“We should ask further questions on this. We should have curious minds, open hearts and we should prosecute this and ask more questions without fear or favour.
“But what we mustn’t do is smear an entire group of people. We wouldn’t say that all Catholics are paedophiles because of what’s happened in the Catholic Church. We must not attack all Muslims.”
Home secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday announced an audit looking into the current scale and nature of “gang-based exploitation” across the country, as well as local reviews into grooming in some areas.
She said local probes would provide more answers and change than a nationwide inquiry.