The debate in the UK over what are known as rape gangs has the politicians deflecting left and right, and turning to some of their favorite ways to do that: talking about foreign interference, misinformation, the right-wing bogey, and attempts at truth gatekeeping – instead of the issue at hand.
And that issue is historic cases of child sexual exploitation in the country – and the role PM Keir Starmer had in the past, and in the rejection of a government-level investigation, requested by the Oldham Council.
Opposition Conservatives and Reform UK MPs have been among those now also asking for a national inquiry, but what got the conversation going – and the ruling Labour up in arms – is Elon Musk.
Referring to Starmer’s alleged inaction on the rape gangs while he, from 2008 to 2013, served as director of public prosecutions (DPP), Musk wrote the PM is “complicit in the rape of Britain.”
Starmer reacted to those criticizing him as spreading “lies and misinformation” and now his party colleagues and some legacy media are spinning the story to include a debate about what kind of “free” speech should be allowed.
Some of these attempts are, to put it mildly, “reaching” – implying that Musk expressing his opinion on the matter was an example of how deeply harmful foreign interference can be, while at the same time admitting this was nothing of the kind since the X owner spoke on his own behalf.
(This particular distraction from the actual topic, the rape gangs inquiry, came from none other than Government’s Independent Reviewer of State Threats Legislation and Terrorism Legislation Jonathan Hall.)
And Foreign Secretary David Lammy was asked by the BBC “what he would like to say to Musk.”
Lammy’s answer revealed how he feels about free speech, and it’s not surprising. The official implies that engaging in speech basically not approved by “arbiters of truth” disqualifies people from the right to have free speech.
“I insist that we focus on the truth, we focus on the facts,” Lammy said, adding, “(…) But to have free speech it must be based on facts and on truth and some of what we’ve seen online is peddling mistruth, is creating bad faith.”
And that, according to him – rather than the decision not to launch a national level inquiry – “is very unfair to those (child sexual exploitation) victims.”
