JIM Gamble, who has stood down as a potential chair of the national grooming gangs inquiry, has warned of the “party politics and the toxic atmosphere” that surrounds it.
He called for cross-party co-operation on setting up the inquiry, an end to “political point-scoring”, and said there has been a “cover-up” on the issue.
Gamble told Charlie Peters and Christopher Hope on GB News: “Yes, there are issues. I spoke to two victims and survivors’ panels, which is indicative, I think, of some of the problems that the Home Office are trying to manage because different people had come from different lived experiences and have different hopes, fears, and expectations.
“I was totally unaware that they had to have their questions proofed by someone. And in fact, I totally, I find that abhorrent. That shouldn’t happen.
“These are people who are reflecting their lived experience, as I said to them at the time, if I had been successful, the first thing I would want to do is give them the opportunity to speak to me in groups, if that’s more comfortable, but actually people need the opportunity, sometimes, to share some of the detail they have in private, in one to one.
“And so to me, it would have been stepping beyond the small groups that have been brought together for this purpose, into creating a network of survivors who are able to speak to and inform the chair and challenge the chair, because no two experiences are the same.
“I was really disappointed that some of the survivors, like Fiona Goddard, felt that she had to leave the process because she wasn’t happy with it at the time. I couldn’t reach out to her, which is what I would have wanted to do, because I didn’t want to do anything that would have made the process inappropriate.
“But that’s a person who has been really, really good in the way that they’ve been able to speak out. They’ve used their experience courageously. And I think she, for one, has demonstrated a generosity of spirit in the way she looks at it from both sides.
“So it was, one of the things for me is, if someone with my background in policing, which is undeniable, is going to be the predominant inhibitor for people like Fiona participating, then I don’t want to inhibit that. I think this has got to be victim-centric.
“I made a promise when I spoke to the survivors, that if I couldn’t get their complete trust, that I would step back and I think I got a huge amount of trust from a majority, but not all
“And when you’re given the privilege of speaking to these young people who have the courage to come forward, who share their journey and the pain that’s inflicted, then you need to be true to your word and that, and that’s one of the reasons I’ve stood down.
“The party politics and the toxic atmosphere around it, is very much the context that’s around it. And my goodness, if politicians can’t come together cross-party on this, when are they ever going to come together?”
He added: “I think the toxic environment; there needs to be a pause now. There needs to be a calming. Those people in positions of responsibility need to think about the victims and survivors rather than their own political point-scoring.
“What I would say to you about is this, you’re absolutely right. There’s none of us, none of us in the criminal justice system, in the social care system, in education, have covered ourselves in glory in the past, all of those sectors have been complicit in the harm that has taken place and in the cover-up in the aftermath of it.
“But that doesn’t mean every individual within every aspect. So I’m sure you can get a judge, I’m sure you can get the right police officer, I’m sure you can get someone with a social care background.
“Louise Casey is a social worker, and she’s created this platform, but the judgement needs to be made on the basis of the individual’s character rather than their previous occupation.”