The gloves were officially off in Monday evening’s episode of GB News’ Patrick Christys Tonight, as a furious row erupted on the show over grooming gangs.
During the episode, the panelists were discussing Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch’s pledge to stand up for victims of grooming gangs, something that they argued Sir Keir Starmer had so far been unwilling to do.
Yet while the news of advocating for victims and striving to stamp out the grooming of young vulnerable people was met with praise and welcome positivity, it was Ms Badenoch’s decision to draw parallels to ‘autistic gay children’ that had been ‘sterilised under the guise of trans’ that one panelist, journalist Benjamin Butterworth took major issue with.
The discussion began to get more heated when host Patrick Christys first said: “She’s going to stand up for the victims of these rape gangs, in the same way that she stood up for – she said, I believe – autistic gay children who were being sterilised as a result of and under the guise of trans. But she’s right about that isn’t she? There were autistic gay children being led down the trans route, by ready medical professionals who were essentially ready to experiment on them. And she was right about that and she’s right about this, isn’t she?”
This prompted Benjamin to interject, as he argued that Ms Badenoch’s position was “sick behaviour” to equate allowing children to transition, to victims of sexual abuse.
He told the show: “No. I think Kemi Badenoch should be totally ashamed of those comments. The fact is, she is using vulnerable children, whether they were appropriately or inappropriately diagnosed, in order to make a point about grooming gangs – is sick political behaviour. To use that for political capital in the serious issue of vulnerable kids being abused by grooming gangs is mistaken.”
Ms.Badenoch’s stance on the grooming gang issues was once again brought front and centre to the political stage on Monday evening, when an interview broadcast on GB News revealed that she was taking a particularly hardline stance on the “predatory” behaviour that was being perpetrated by a culture of abuse in certain communities around the UK.
She also challenged a “culture of silence” that covered up the atrocities, while arguing that peasants” from “sub-communities” within some countries are behind the grooming gangs abuse that has scarred Britain.
Taking aim at the gangs in particular she told the programme: “There are some places where when people behave in that way, a mob turns up and burns their homes down, and then they know that they can’t do that sort of thing.
“What for me is most extraordinary about this case is that clearly these people thought that they could get away with it. That is the thing that we should be looking at.”
Reflecting on her recent meetings with survivors of the Rotherham and Oldham abuse gangs, she candidly recalled: “They told me about their experiences with the rape gangs. The most shocking thing was how they had gone to the authorities, and multiple times to the police.
“In one particular case, the police actually handed a 12-year-old into the hands of abusers. That, I think, is extraordinary.”
She added: “So the failure of state bodies, whether it’s the police, social services, is one of the areas that I think needs to be looked at much more deeply.”
Addressing the elephant in the room as to why the Conservatives failed to launch an inquiry into the grooming gang scandal while still in power, Ms.Badenoch argued: “We’ve had multiple non-national inquiries. They are not enough. Let’s do more.”
“This is an issue I personally care about. I have been a young girl. I’ve been a young woman. I have two daughters. This stuff terrifies me.”
The Tory leader said: “I don’t keep quiet when I see something that’s going wrong.
“Whether it was with getting justice for postmasters, whether it was stopping rapists from being put in women’s prisons … whether it was stopping mostly gay autistic children from being sterilised under the cover of trans when they needed different help.”
Addressing MPs from other parties following last week’s parliamentary vote against a national inquiry, Ms. Badenoch said: “This is about those victims who deserve justice. The survivors who deserve justice by making sure that every single perpetrator we can find is caught and brought to justice, and those who failed in their duty to protect their children are held to account and exposed.
“And an inquiry means that they have to come out and explain what they did or what they didn’t do. And then the truth will out. This is about getting the truth, and everybody should stand for that.”
