Jim Gamble has launched a blistering attack on “misinformation” and “political point scoring” after withdrawing from the grooming gangs inquiry.
Speaking to GB News, the former Police Chief and Child Protection Specialist declared that if politicians “can’t come together across party on this, when are they ever going to come together?”.
Mr Gamble was a leading candidate to chair the probe, and his decision has heaped further pressure on Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips, who is facing calls to resign.
Expressing sympathy for the victims amid the chaos of the inquiry, he told the People’s Channel: “I am disappointed, and I think there’s been misinformation, and I feel for the victims and survivors who feel yet again that they’re stuck in the middle.
Jim Gamble launched a blistering attack on GB News after withdrawing from the grooming gangs inquiry
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GB NEWS
“And there’s evidence that they’re being pulled in different directions, and some of that is about misinformation and some of it’s about party political point scoring.”
Revealing why he resigned as a police chief 15 years ago, Mr Gamble added: “You introduced me as a former police officer and, of course, I am. I’m former because I resigned 15 years ago in protest at what Theresa May was doing to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.
“In the 15 years since, I have been involved in a range of reviews which have called out the police in and across the UK, and have highlighted feelings in social care and elsewhere.”
Criticising the process being offered to the victims and survivors of grooming gangs, the former officer explained: “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 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.
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Mr Gamble hit out at ‘political point scoring’ and ‘misinformation’ in the handling of the grooming gangs inquiry
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GB NEWS
“But actually, people need the opportunity sometimes to share some of the detail they have in private, one to one. And so to me, it would have been stepping beyond the small groups that had 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.”
Expressing his disappointment that rape gang survivor Fiona Goddard felt she also had to withdraw from the inquiry, Mr Gamble said: “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. And 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 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 the generosity of spirit in the way she looks at it from both sides.”
He added: “So it was one of the things for me, as 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, and 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.”
Mr Gamble told GB News that ‘no one across any sector’ has covered themselves in ‘glory’ over the scandal
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GB NEWS
Outlining one of the key reasons as to why he stood down, Mr Gamble fumed: “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 across party on this, when are they ever going to come together? I think the toxic environment, there needs to be a pause, 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.”
He concluded: “There’s none of us in the criminal justice system, the social care system, in education, that 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, and I’m sure you can get someone with a social care background.”
In a statement, a Home Office spokesman said: “The grooming gang scandal was one of the darkest moments in this country’s history”.
“That is why this Government is committed to a full, statutory, national inquiry to uncover the truth. It is the very least that the victims of these hideous crimes deserve.
“We are disappointed that candidates to chair that inquiry have withdrawn. This is an extremely sensitive topic, and we have to take the time to appoint the best person suitable for the role.
“The Home Secretary has been clear: there will be no hiding place for those who abused the most vulnerable in our society.”
