‘We stand by Jess’: Telford survivors criticise Musk’s attack on Phillips

A group of victims of gender-based violence has criticised Elon Musk for his remarks attacking Jess Phillips, saying the safeguarding minister had “devoted her life to fighting for women and girls”.In a letter shared with the Guardian the seven women, including three survivors of the Telford sexual abuse scandal, came to the Labour MP’s defence and said that there was “no one in public life who has done more to support victims and survivors and to advocate for their interests”.Their intervention came after Musk, the billionaire Tesla boss who is in line for a senior role in Donald Trump’s administration, posted on his platform, X, that Phillips should be jailed and called her a “rape genocide apologist”.His comments came after Phillips rejected a request for a government-led public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham. In October, Phillips instructed Oldham council to carry out its own investigation, similar to those set up in Rochdale and Telford

‘I haven’t seen any change’: black Labour voters in Liverpool and London six months on

In Toxteth, a fast-gentrifying area of Liverpool that has for decades been the nucleus of the city’s 300-year-old black community, Saeed Olayiwola considered how the Labour government compared with the Conservatives. “I don’t see much that sets them apart at the moment,” Olayiwola said.Since Keir Starmer’s government took power six months ago, voters in two urban constituencies, both represented by black Labour MPs – Liverpool Riverside and Tottenham in north London – have been weighing up the party’s decisions and talking to the Guardian.Areas such as these, with historic and large black and minority ethnic communities, have long been loyal to the party.The last election was no exception: Labour enjoyed a bigger lead among minority ethnic voters than it did among white voters

Starmer condemns ‘lies and misinformation’ as he hits back at Musk

Keir Starmer has condemned Elon Musk’s increasingly erratic attacks on the government, suggesting his “lies and misinformation” on grooming gangs were amplifying the “poison” of the far right.The prime minister angrily criticised Conservative politicians for “jumping on the bandwagon” by calling for a national inquiry into the scandal when they failed to implement any of the recommendations of a major report while in power. He accused them of being more interested in themselves than supporting victims.Ministers promised on Monday to introduce a key demand of Prof Alexis Jay’s 2022 child sexual abuse inquiry so that professionals who work with children would face sanction if they failed to report claims of sexual abuse under a law to be introduced this year.Starmer, the target of wild criticism from Musk on his social media platform X, said the debate on the issue had crossed a line with threats against MPs including the safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, whom Musk called a “rape genocide apologist” and said should be jailed

UK politics: Yvette Cooper says victims and survivors panel being set up after child abuse inquiry recommendations – as it happened

Cooper says IICSA also carried out a specific investigation into child sexual abuse by organised gangs. That reported in February 2022, she says.Despite these different inquiries drawing up multiple recommendations, far too little has actually been done.None of the 20 recommendations from the independent inquiry into child abuse have been implemented, as the Act on Independent Child Abuse Campaign group from the Survivors Trust has said this week.She says two former Tory home secretaries said the IICSA report should be a watershed

New year, new Keir: if only politicians would resolve to keep quiet in January

Don’t you just hate this time of year? The promise of Christmas giving way to the bleak reality of January. Cold mornings fading to grey by mid-afternoon. Nothing to look forward to except filling in your tax return. Hunkering down and praying to wake up some time in April.And then there’s the resolutions

Bromance on the rocks: where does Musk’s brush-off leave Nigel Farage?

It was the morning after the rather disappointing day before. “At the moment, I am just letting things lie,” Nigel Farage told the Guardian with a dry chuckle on being asked whether he might attempt a rapprochement with the world’s richest man.It has been quite the three weeks since Farage and Reform’s treasurer, Nick Candy, enjoyed a well-publicised meeting with Elon Musk at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida’s Palm Beach.According to Farage’s own account at the time, Musk had been “generous with his time” and there had been talks about a donation to Reform’s coffers. It appeared to herald a new dawn in British politics