The Daily Express confronted London Mayor Sadiq Khan over the grooming gangs scandal at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. The Mayor declined to answer questions and instead went on to speak with Alastair Campbell.
Mayor declines to respond
For months, the newspaper has sought to speak to the Mayor of London and put to him a series of questions about London's grooming gangs scandal. The Daily Express Investigations team and survivors have helped expose the scale of the injustice.
Equipped with a camera and microphone, a political correspondent stood outside an event the Mayor was due to attend, with one question: would the Mayor of London apologise to the survivors of the grooming gangs scandal he once denied existed?
Stonewalled at every turn
Arriving at the event with armed guards and a retinue of communications staff, the Mayor elected not to answer, blanking the reporter and walking past. His team said he would come out after the event and give a few minutes. About half an hour later, he came out but again walked off as aides told the reporter to book an interview through the proper channels.
The investigations team has tried before and was stonewalled every time. Barked at and ordered away, the team was told the Mayor did not have a moment to spare and had to be rushed to his next engagement.
Time for a chat with Campbell
What happened next came as a surprise. With no time to spare for the Daily Express, Sadiq Khan climbed the stairs and settled in for a friendly chat with Alastair Campbell. Time, it turned out, was never really the issue.
For months, the newspaper has worked to expose the scale of the grooming gangs scandal - the alleged cover-ups, the failures and the girls let down by the authorities meant to protect them. Sadiq Khan once dismissed the very existence of this crisis in his own city.
The survivors the paper speaks to ask to be seen and say they feel invisible to the man who runs London - the man whose job it is to keep the most vulnerable safe. The question was asked on their behalf, because somebody has to. The paper says it is not interested in political point-scoring or a soundbite for its own sake, but asks questions because survivors of unimaginable abuse deserve answers - not silence, not a swerve towards the stairs, not a warm word for an old friend from the political class while the people who actually suffered are ignored.
Sadiq Khan had his chance to answer for those women. He chose Alastair Campbell instead. The paper says it won't stop asking.
