Sir Keir Starmer has defended his record on tackling grooming gangs, after tech billionaire Elon Musk launched a social media attack on the prime minister on the issue. Starmer adds, "those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they're interested in themselves". The prime minister says "poisonous threats" made against his safeguarding minister Jess Phillips show "a line has been crossed"
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00:00Child sexual exploitation is utterly sickening, utterly sickening.
00:06And for many, many years, too many victims have been completely let down.
00:13Let down by perverse ideas about community relations
00:17or by the idea that institutions must be protected above all else.
00:23And they've not been listened to and they've not been heard.
00:27And when I was Chief Prosecutor for five years,
00:31I tackled that head on because I could see what was happening.
00:35Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible,
00:41they're not interested in victims.
00:45They're interested in themselves.
00:47Those who are cheerleading, Tommy Robinson, are not interested in justice.
00:53They're supporting a man who went to prison for nearly collapsing a grooming case.
01:00And those attacking Jess Phillips, who I'm proud to call a colleague and a friend,
01:06not protecting victims,
01:08Jess Phillips has done a thousand times more than they've even dreamt about
01:12when it comes to protecting victims of sexual abuse throughout her entire career.
01:19And so just as I took on the criminal justice system and the institutions when I was Chief Prosecutor,
01:25I'm prepared to call out this for what it is.
01:29We've seen this playbook many times,
01:32whipping up of intimidation and threats of violence,
01:36hoping that the media will amplify it.
01:40Now, Jess Phillips does not need me or anybody else to speak on her behalf.
01:47But when the poison of the far right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others,
01:56then in my book, a line has been crossed.