At 3.02 this morning, the 75th anniversary of VE day, I received an innocuous looking email on behalf of the Parliamentary Petitions Committee. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they’d reviewed the Home Office’s response to the Grooming Gangs report petition and, like me, found it to be wholly inadequate. It makes a refreshing change to see our elected officials taking the concerns of the general public seriously, although I’m sure that significant pushback from constituents has something to do with it.
Just like myself and many others, the Committee is not at all satisfied with a Home Office response that completely fails to address or even mention the central point of the petition in the first place. As a result, the Committee has written directly to the Home Secretary to request a revised response that addresses the petition’s request directly. There’s a copy of the letter below if you’d like to read it.
I’ve already voiced my suspicion that the true reason for the Home Office’s opaque response is that said report was never actually created. Now it looks like that hypothesis will be properly tested.
By writing directly to the Home Secretary, the Committee has ensured that the matter can’t just be kicked down the road by a gaggle of nameless, unaccountable mandarins. Speaking personally, I’ve no doubt that that Priti Patel is more than happy to bring this issue to a head, especially as she apparently still hasn’t laid eyes on this most rarefied government document.
I’ve previously highlighted how the initial Home Office response is a studious attempt to avoid writing anything that could actually be checked, which strongly suggests that whoever concocted that missive knew they were on very shaky ground when they put pen to paper. After all, it would’ve been so much simpler to basically tell Joe Public to get lost and refuse to publish. Job done.
Like all chain reactions, this one has started small and quickly grown beyond the control of those trying to keep a lid on it. By taking such direct and public action, the Petitions Committee has put the ball firmly back in Priti Patel’s court, which is something I suspect she’s quite happy with. No doubt those officials who deserve it most will soon find this ticking time bomb firmly lodged in their own laps, having signed for it on receipt.
Despite all the ducking and diving, somebody will now to have to put their name on this…and that’s when the trouble will really start.
As Churchill famously said, “now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
In truth this isn’t quite D Day for Britain’s deep state, at least not yet, but the smarter ones must surely see smoke on the horizon.
Expect many media hit pieces and early retirements in the coming months as this ship begins to list.
Image courtesy of Svilen Milev at FreeImages.com
Click here to read the Committee’s letter to the Home Secretary.