The Safeguarding Minister Who Safeguarded the Rape Gangs
Jess Phillips Knew. She Stayed Silent. And She Protected the System.
On 2 September, in the House of Commons, Jess Phillips, the Minister responsible for safeguarding women and girls, made a series of admissions that are as shocking as they are damning.
She confirmed she has met survivors who told her police officers were not just complicit in the rape gang scandal but were perpetrators of rape themselves. She admitted she personally witnessed cover-up behaviour in grooming gang cases. And then, in an insult to survivors, she claimed Pakistanis had been the most fervent truth seekers in exposing the abuse.
Just weeks earlier, on 2 June, Phillips told Parliament she had been “waiting 14 years for anyone to do anything.” Fourteen years. Her own words. Fourteen years of knowing. Fourteen years of silence.
Taken together, these statements reveal not a safeguarding minister but a politician who has known about the worst institutional betrayals of children, stayed silent, fought against accountability, and now tries to rewrite history.
Police Officers Were Perpetrators
In response to a question about South Yorkshire Police investigating itself, Phillips told MPs:
“I would be lying if I said that over the years I have not met girls who talked to me about how police were part of the perpetration not just the cover-up.”
This was not hearsay. It was testimony from the mouths of victims. For years, campaigners have feared corrupt officers were embedded in these networks. Now the safeguarding minister has admitted she knows it to be true.
If this knowledge had been made public at the time, it would have forced resignations, prosecutions, and a national reckoning. Instead, Phillips kept it secret.
A safeguarding minister who knows police officers raped children but chooses silence is not protecting victims. She is protecting the system.
She Witnessed Cover-Ups
Phillips went further. She admitted she has personally seen officials and professionals choose not to act because they feared the trouble it might cause.
She told MPs:
“I have seen this with my own eyes in cases in which I have been involved. People have said, ‘Oh, it might cause trouble.’ … I have definitely seen this, and it should never have been allowed to happen.”
This is a direct admission of first-hand knowledge of cover-up behaviour. Yet once more she remained silent until now.
When a safeguarding minister sees cover-ups with her own eyes but refuses to blow the whistle, she ceases to be an ally of victims. She becomes part of the cover-up herself.
Fourteen Years of Silence
On 2 June, Phillips told the Commons:
“I waited 14 years for anyone to do anything.”
Fourteen years of knowing that children were being raped and exploited. Fourteen years of watching institutions protect themselves. Fourteen years in which she could have spoken, could have acted, could have blown the whistle.
But instead of using her power, Phillips campaigned against a national inquiry. She defended the very councils and police forces accused of collusion. She shielded her own party from exposure. Every year of her silence protected perpetrators and betrayed victims.
The Absurdity of Pakistanis as Truth Seekers
Having admitted police involvement and cover-ups, Phillips then tried to shift the narrative. She claimed:
“Some of the most fervent truth seekers on this issue are of Pakistani heritage.”
This is nonsense. For two decades, it was working-class families, betrayed survivors, and a handful of campaigners who exposed the scandal. Local officials, police forces, and many within Pakistani communities either denied, minimised, or resisted exposure.
To claim now that Pakistanis led the fight for truth is not just absurd. It is an attempt to rewrite history. It credits those who resisted exposure while insulting the courage of survivors who had to fight alone to be heard.
The Deeper Betrayal
Jess Phillips didn’t just admit knowledge of perpetrators and cover-ups. She admitted she knew children were raped by police officers. She admitted she saw institutions look the other way. And she admitted she has known about the Pakistani rape gangs for 14 years.
And then she used her power not to fight for those victims, but to block the only thing that could deliver justice. A national inquiry.
That is not safeguarding. That is protecting the system. That is collusion at the very highest level.
The victims of grooming gangs were failed as children. They are still being failed today. And now the Minister responsible for protecting them has admitted she knew the truth all along and chose silence.
This is her truth. This will be her legacy. She helped protect the grooming gangs. She cannot be trusted. She cannot remain in her role.
So why are the opposition not demanding her resignation. Why has no mainstream outlet run with her confession. Why is her complicity being buried.
Until those questions are answered, the cover-up continues.
I am Raja Miah. Seven years ago I began exposing how politicians protected the rape gangs.
The truth can no longer be buried. The Pakistani rape gangs are real. Their victims number in the hundreds of thousands. And the cover up is still ongoing.
Now the National Inquiry is about to begin. This is our one chance to stop another whitewash. But that will only happen if enough people know the truth and are willing to fight back.
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This is the fight. This is the moment. There will not be another.
– Raja Miah MBE