As Keir Starmer accuses politicians of boosting the far right, MEE revisits attacks linked to a narrative blaming Islam for sex abuse scandals
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accused Conservative MPs of boosting a “far-right” narrative on sexual abuse after Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said “grooming gangs” were a result of “alien cultures” with “medieval attitudes towards women”.
Innocent Muslims have been attacked and even killed over the last several years over a popular far-right narrative blaming Islam and Pakistani culture for child sexual abuse scandals in Britain.
In his comments on Monday, Starmer hit back at billionaire X-owner Elon Musk in an escalating spat.
Last week Musk accused Starmer of being “complicit in the rape of Britain” during his tenure as director of public prosecutions (DPP) for supposedly failing to tackle child sexual abuse perpetrated by Pakistani-origin and Muslim men, often called “grooming gangs”.
He further accused opposition Conservative MPs of “amplifying what the far-right is saying” on child sexual abuse after failing to act “for 14 long years”.
Last week it emerged that the Labour government had rejected in October a request by Oldham Council for a government-led inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the council, in favour of a local investigation instead.
After Musk posted on X, his social media platform, attacking the Labour government, prominent British politicians intervened to attack Starmer and urge a public inquiry.
‘Alien cultures’
The Conservative Party’s shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, a minister under the previous government, wrote in a column for the Telegraph: “Not all cultures are equal: importing hundreds of thousands of people from alien cultures, who possess medieval attitudes towards women, brought us here.”
He added: “And after 30 years of this disastrous experiment, we now have entrenched sectarian voting blocs that make it electoral suicide for some MPs to confront this.”
Jenrick has since defended his comments – as has Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party.
Statistics indicate that there is no evidence that Pakistanis or Muslims are disproportionately represented among perpetrators of group-based sexual exploitation in Britain.
However, over the past two decades, groups of Asian-origin and Muslim men have been prosecuted for severe sexual crimes, including rape in high profile cases.
Far-right activists have argued for years that Islam and Pakistani culture are responsible for grooming gangs.
Most prominent among these is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who calls himself Tommy Robinson and is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court.
Musk, a South African who holds US citizenship, has repeatedly called for his release over the past several days and described a libelous documentary by the English Defence League (EDL) co-founder as “worth watching”.
On Saturday, the Muslim Council of Britain called for a “properly constituted national inquiry into child sexual exploitation, provided it follows evidence rather than prejudice”, but warned of a “racist witch-hunt” against Muslims.
On Sunday Samuel Kasumu, a former Tory adviser on race issues, said Jenrick’s comments risked people being killed.
That same day, Conservative MPs – including Jenrick – called on the government to drop its reported plans to create an official definition of Islamophobia.
Jenrick told the Telegraph: “Throughout the grooming gang scandal the false label of Islamophobia was used to silence people.”
However, there have been multiple instances in which far-right attackers have launched deadly attacks on Muslims, citing or influenced by the narrative blaming grooming gangs on Islam.
- Christchurch attack in New Zealand
On 15 March 2019, white supremacist Brenton Tarrant killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand, in the deadliest shooting in the country’s history.
He had the words “For Rotherham” writen on ammunition that he used in the massacre, in an apparent reference to the grooming gang scandal in Rotherham, a town in the north of England.
- Muhsin Ahmed
In August 2015 an 81-year-old Muslim grandfather, Mushin Ahmed, was murdered in a racially-motivated attack in Rotherham.
He was killed as he made his way home from prayers.
Ahmed’s killers stomped on his head, causing fractured eyesockets and brain damage, while verbally abusing him and calling him a “groomer”.
- Makram Ali
In 2017, 51-year-old Makram Ali was killed outside the Finsbury Park mosque in London by a far-right attacker who drove a van into a crowd of worshippers.
The attacker, Darren Osborne, was reportedly radicalised after being obsessed with a BBC documentary drama about the child sex ring in Rotherham.
During his trial, the jury heard that Osborne had written a note about his motivation for the attack that referred to the grooming gangs and said “Islam’s ideology does not belong here”.
- Knowsley riot
A far-right mob launched a violent attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers in 2023, amidst widespread rioting across the country.
A police van was set ablaze, fireworks were launched at officers and vile accusations were chanted about the hotel’s residents in Knowsley, Merseyside.
Some of these baseless accusations included that the residents were groomers or “nonces” (British slang for paedophile). Graffiti with the same slur was sprayed on the hotel.
- Eleanor Williams
In 2023, a 22-year-old woman was jailed after it emerged she had falsely accused men of sexually abusing her as part of a grooming gang.
Eleanor Williams posted graphic photos of herself online, claiming she had been beaten and raped – prompting an international movement supporting her that raised £22,000.
But the allegations sparked a series of violent racist attacks in Williams’ locality, Barrow-in-Furness. Curry house windows were smashed, Asian-owned restaurants were boycotted and a Muslim takeaway owner was assaulted.
Four men falsely accused by Williams faced severe ostracism and were verbally and physically assaulted on the street.
One of them, an 18-year-old man, spent ten weeks in prison before being released.
Another man, aged 22, said his life had been ruined and told the Guardian he came close to committing suicide.
Mohammed Ramzan, a local businessman, received over 500 death threats.
Then-local MP Simon Fell said: “I had doctors who worked at the local hospital come to me who were really concerned about their safety and their kids’ safety.
“I know one gentleman who ran a curry house, his wife left him and took his children away, because accusations were made against him.
“This really affected people, genuine people who’d been in the community for years and years and years.”
