Lucy Powell’s grooming gangs dismissal shames Labour

Pressure is growing on Lucy Powell MP to resign, following her sneering dismissal of public anger over the ongoing Pakistani-majority rape gang scandal. During an appearance on the BBC’s Any Questions, commentator Tim Montgomerie asked Powell if she had seen the recent Channel 4 documentary on the rape gangs — a programme which highlighted the indifference of police and social services to these crimes, for fear of upsetting “community relations”.Powell’s response was to snap: “Oh, so we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Yeah, let’s get that dogwhistle out.” Never mind the fact that working-class girls were subjected by these gangs to a degree and scale of sexual torture that, had it happened overseas in a conflict zone, would accord clear grounds for refugee status. All Powell seemed able to see was that it was a politically inconvenient narrative.In this, she typified the institutional stance of the British governing class to the most appalling organised violence perpetrate...