Tories use infamous Labour attack ad against them amid Elon Musk pressure over abuse inquiry

Keir Starmer’s Labour Party continues to face pressure around launching a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation from the likes of Elon Musk, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives - and now the Tories have used an infamous attack ad from Labour against them.

Back when Rishi Sunak was prime minister (remember that?), the Tory leader appeared in graphics which claimed he doesn’t think adults “convicted of sexually assaulting children” or “possessing a gun with intent to harm” should go to prison.

Labour was accused of “gutter politics” as a result, but Starmer said he would “make absolutely zero apologies for being blunt” about the Conservatives’ record on law and order.

Except, that very issue has become a bit of a difficult subject for Labour at the moment, as the fallout continues over Jess Phillips’ decision to refuse a request from Oldham Council for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

The House of Commons is currently debating the second reading of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, with Badenoch tabling an amendment calling on the government to establish such an inquiry.

Applying scrutiny on social media, the Conservatives borrowed one of the aforementioned attack ads and revised it, with Starmer appearing next to text which reads: “Do you think there should be an inquiry into rape gangs? Keir Starmer doesn’t.

“Not only are the Labour Party blocking an inquiry, but Keir Starmer thinks you are far-right if you want justice for the victims of rape gangs.

“Labour won’t stand up to dangerous child abusers.”

The “far-right” reference in the ad pertains to comments made by Starmer on Monday, when he addressed the online response to Phillips’ decision on an inquiry and the abuse directed at her as a result by the likes of Musk, who branded her a “rape genocide apologist”.

He said: “What I won’t tolerate is politicians jumping on the bandwagon, simply to get attention, when those politicians sat in government for 14 long years, tweeting, talking, but not doing anything about it [child sexual exploitation].

“Now so desperate for attention, that they are amplifying what the far-right are saying.”

However, the Tories' attack ad hasn’t gone down well on Twitter/X, with one top reply claiming Badenoch had “plenty to say” on trans issues compared to the issue of child sexual exploitation:

Another told the Tories to “sit down” after it “didn’t act” on the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, carried out by academic Alexis Jay, which published its final report in October 2022:

Labour has appeared to have changed its stance on a national inquiry in recent days, with Starmer’s spokesman saying if victims’ groups indicated in the future that they wanted an inquiry, one would be granted at that point.

In similar comments to Sky News on Tuesday, Phillips said: “If the victims come forward to me in this victims panel and they say, ‘actually, we think there needs to be a national inquiry into this’, I’ll listen to them.”

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