The British State Should Be More Than Sorry

I’m a big believer in apologies. One of the more corrosive elements of “cancel culture” — for want of a better term — is how it denies the possibility of reform. All of us mess up in life, and most of us — I’m not quite optimistic enough to say “all” — can reflect on our mistakes and become better people.

But that doesn’t mean apologies are always enough. If I drink five beers, hop in my car and crash into a wall I don’t become persona non grata — beyond the possibility of employment and human affection. But I shouldn’t be allowed behind the wheel for some time. If I drink five beers, hop in my car and crash into a person then apologies are even more inadequate. I don’t merely have to prove myself to be a better man — I have to make amends.

Apologies for what might look like a strange and jarring shift in subject matter, but the BBC reports:

In January, a review revealed girls in Rochdale were “left at the mercy” of paedophile grooming gangs for years because of failings by senior police and council bosses.

British readers should be aware of similar cases in Rotherham, Telford, Oldham and elsewhere. Hundreds of young girls were raped, largely by men of Pakistani heritage, with the authorities failing to respond out of a mix of institutional inertia, contempt for troubled working class kids and political correctness.

The BBC report:

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it was “deeply sorry” for failing victims.

…

A spokesperson from Rochdale Borough Council said: “We are deeply sorry that the people who were at Rochdale Council during the period 2004 to 2013, like many other areas of the country, did not recognise or acknowledge what was happening and failed to take the necessary action to protect children from abuse.”

Okay, but this is not a “we’re sorry” situation. This is a time for consequences as well as apologies.

Granted, British institutions have taken steps to ensure that their safeguarding procedures are more effective. By all accounts, these have been impactful — though not foolproof. According to the Beeb, the Rochdale review has:

… set out a series of failed investigations by GMP, identifying 96 men still deemed a potential risk to children.

The police have promised “a day of reckoning” for criminals who escaped prosecution. Good. But where are the consequences for the officials who failed? I don’t just say that out of a punitive instinct — though a punitive instinct is by no means unjustified — but because being held accountable is important to ensuring that our authorities behave with appropriate seriousness in the future.

We’ve seen none of this. In fact, we’ve all but seen the opposite. Last year, GB News reported:

A former Labour Party politician who resigned his cabinet position at Rotherham Council in 2015 amid reports that he ‘pushed back’ discussions on the ethnicity of grooming gangs now works as a senior diversity and inclusion manager in a major NHS body…

How would you feel if a zookeeper who played a role in the gates of the lions’ enclosure being left open got a swanky job in health and safety? GB News’ Charlie Peters also reported that a Rotherham councillor who was “forced to resign along with the entire cabinet after an independent report uncovered the council’s incompetence in dealing with the town’s rape gangs scandal” ended up being selected as a potential Labour MP. He stood down — but why had he been selected in the first place? Again, it illustrates a total lack of seriousness.

What about the police officers? Of course, we can’t expect the police to be omniscient and omnipresent. There are going to be cases in which criminals run free because there are no realistic chances of stopping them. But we are not talking about understandable mistakes here. We are talking about allegations of dramatic and disgusting failure. The Guardian reports:

— [Greater Manchester Police] took no action in the case of a 15-year-old girl who gave birth to a child of her “pimp”.

— One child told GMP that her abusers kept girls in cages and “made them bark like a dog or dress like a baby”, but GMP took no action once she left Greater Manchester and was put in care elsewhere.

— In an “incredible example of poor practice”, one victim, known as Amber, was herself arrested and then bailed to live with a man who had already been arrested on suspicion of grooming.

Despite this:

… five GMP officers, including an assistant chief constable, as well as the head of children’s services at Rochdale council at the time, either refused to cooperate with the review or failed to respond to a request for interview.

I know I’m objecting to the law here rather than anyone specific to this case, but why is that even an option?

In broader terms, British society has not accounted for how political convenience and cultural awkwardness enabled the marginalisation of the scandal. To be clear, reducing state failures over child abuse to political correctness alone would be a mistake. The police missed opportunity after opportunity to stop the paedophilic rapist — and lead singer of the emo band Lostprophets — Ian Watkins. Chronic institutional failings enabled the prolific crimes of the TV presenter Jimmy Savile. But the fact that it was not the factor does not mean that it was not a factor — both for the authorities directly involved and for the politicians, commentators and members of the public who should have been demanding change.

I’m sure it also had something to do with a lack of interest in the kids involved. The police were something worse than uninterested in them. Hell, I’m sure that they were troubled and difficult girls. But grooming gangs are hardly liable to prey on the most popular kids with the most resilient safety nets.

So, the evil was ignored, and has never been sufficiently addressed. Sarah Champion MP resigned as shadow equalities minister in 2017 after an article published in her name said “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping white girls”. There were no such high profile consequences over public officials failing to prevent the rape itself.

None of this is to advocate a witch hunt. Three Labour MPs, including Ms Champion, successfully took action against a UKIP MEP who had accused them of knowing details about grooming gangs yet deciding not to intervene. Many public officials were responsible for many things but that does not mean that every public official was responsible for anything in specific terms.

But we can be both careful and condemnatory. This is not a case of a minister being revealed to have snorted cocaine in the Houses of Parliament, or a council wasting money on expensive wine. This is the deeply rooted state failure to address systematic child abuse on a massive scale. Apologies are nice, but there should be no quick forgiveness and absolutely no forgetting.