David Craig, on September 9th, 2025Tuesday-Wednesday blog
On Tuesday 2 September 2025 Hansard reported Jess Philips, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, as saying:
“South Yorkshire police should never have been left to investigate themselves in this matter, and moving those investigations to the NCA is absolutely the right thing to do. I would be lying if I said that over the years I had not met girls who talked to me about how police were part of not just the cover-up but the perpetration. We must ensure that victims can come and give that testimony. It is harder to give than other testimony because it brings fear and a lack of trust, but if that is where the inquiry takes us because that is what victims say, that is what will happen.”
This indicates, as far as I can see, that Jess Philips:
- knew the rape gangs were operating
- knew the police were trying to cover up the extent of the rape gangs
- knew that some police were participating in the rapes.
In Britain it is generally not a crime to know about a crime and not report it. However, there are exceptions where a specific legal duty to report exists, such as for professionals like social workers or teachers regarding child abuse, or for certain terrorism-related offenses. It is also a crime if your inaction becomes active concealment of the crime or if you fail to report a future crime, as this can be interpreted as assisting in the plan.
Jess Phillips originally voted against a national grooming inquiry. Given that it was part of her job as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls to protect women and girls, it could be argued that, like professionals such as social workers or teachers, Jess Philips had a specific legal duty to act on her knowledge that she:
- knew the rape gangs were operating
- knew the police were trying to cover up the extent of the rape gangs
- knew that some police were participating in the rapes.
So, why aren’t the police investigating Jess Philips for her failure to report crimes she knew were happening when her position made her responsible for the safety of women and girls?
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Jess Philips is trying to get in front of the proverbial train. She knows that plenty of her fellow Labour MPs are going to come out of the enquiry with blood on their hands. The damage to Labour particularly up north will move many more away from voting for them. The pandering to Islam needs to stop but with votes at risk Labour are in a pickle this along with immigration will end them. Garage just needs to keep the pressure on and they will be decimated. I really look forward to seeing the terms of reference for the enquiry because anything short of a full enquiry will have the country baying for blood.