England has a massive problem with “grooming gangs,” a euphemistic term that refers to the networks of abusive men (mostly of Pakistani heritage) who target and sexually abuse (mostly white) young girls. Although the gangs have wreaked havoc for decades, they have recently attracted international attention, in large part because Elon Musk amplified discussions on social media. The seemingly global outrage is entirely justifiable: the gangs’ conduct is so barbaric that it proves challenging to read even the judicial-sentencing remarks (for those with a strong stomach, more details here). But another disturbing aspect of the so-called grooming gangs is what appears to be a massive cover-up, as the British authorities have often turned a blind eye to the abusers.

The scandal is hardly new. In 2012, British journalist Andrew Norfolk published documents that showed widespread sexual exploitation had occurred in Rotherham since 2000. But Norfolk revealed something even more damning: The local authorities were well aware thousands of such crimes occurred each year, yet refrained from pursuing justice to avoid endangering “Rotherham’s qualities of diversity” and “harmony of community relationships.” Later, in 2014, an inquiry produced the “Jay Report” that concluded roughly 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham from 1997 to 2013. The report offered further confirmation that the authorities had ignored the perpetrators because of politically correct fears: “Several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist; others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so.” In other words, the steadfast commitment to celebrating diversity meant allowing Pakistani men to abuse white girls without consequence. The law enforcement misconduct was so severe that it defies the imagination: A resident reported overhearing screaming, and the police arrived to find a 13-year-old girl intoxicated in a house with men; the police arrested the child for being drunk and disorderly but didn’t interrogate the men.

Some admirable efforts have made progress toward justice for the Rotherham victims, particularly the National Crime Agency’s “Operation Stovewood,” which has identified over 1,000 victims and convicted more than 35 individuals. But the gangs exist all throughout England — be it Oxford, Rochdale, Bristol, Telford, or Bradford. And by now, some of the Rotherham abusers have been released from prison.

Yet the national government has been hesitant to pursue a nationwide investigation. Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding, recently rejected an inquiry into the gangs and suggested that local authorities can take up the matter. But that’s a daunting task to complete without assistance from the national authorities, in part because the gangs often take the girls outside of their town or city for prostitution. And there are reasons to suspect a local investigation will lack rigor, since there is copious evidence showing that local social services and law enforcement have deliberately ignored their duties when faced with the challenge of the gangs. For example, a 2022 independent review of Telford uncovered that police officers had dubbed parts of the town as a “no-go area.” And just as in Rotherham, the report on Telford found that “there was a nervousness about race . . . bordering on a reluctance to investigate crimes committed by what was described as the ‘Asian’ community.”

Just last week, another effort to address the nationwide problem was shut down. The Conservative Party attempted to launch a national inquiry into the gangs, but the measure was defeated with 364 votes against and only 111 votes in favor. The Labour Party’s reluctance has fueled suspicions of a cover-up. The Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of not wanting questions asked “of Labour politicians who may be complicit,” including the prime minister himself; Starmer was the head of the Crown Prosecution Service — roughly the equivalent of our attorney general — at the height of a rape-gang scandal in the town of Oldham. And a former member of Parliament from Rochdale has claimed that two now-deceased Labour politicians told him not to link the gangs with ethnicity, largely owing to electoral concerns.

The British establishment can continue telling the mainstream media that the claims about the grooming gangs are all right-wing conspiracies, but the best measure to ensure justice and dispel “misinformation” would be a thorough investigation that produces a transparent report. Too many people in the British government seem as if they are still afraid of the truth.