Investigations editor Zak Garner-Purkis, who exposed London's grooming gang scandal, says the Mayor of London finally faced questions about the issue at a Labour Party Conference event – but chose to ignore them. Sir Sadiq Khan was approached by Aaron Newbury from the Express's Westminster team at the Politico Pub, where he was appearing at a conference event. The only route was across an outside area open to delegates, providing an unguarded moment to ask him about apologising to grooming gang survivors.
Mayor's Denial Contradicted by Reports
Garner-Purkis notes that Sir Sadiq would not be at the centre of any grooming gangs scandal if he hadn't insisted on record there was "no indication" that they existed in the capital. That claim was shown to be false, and was contradicted by reports that Sir Sadiq read and responded to. It was only after the reporting that his position changed and the Mayor started saying he's always told the police to "leave no stone unturned" in going after these gangs.
The London grooming gang survivors Garner-Purkis speaks to on a regular basis were disgusted by this sudden turnaround. They felt the mayor's denial of the issue was gaslighting; his deliberately chosen words made vulnerable women who were systematically exploited feel invisible and powerless.
Stonewalled at Every Turn
Despite consistently claiming violence against women and girls is one of his top priorities, Sir Sadiq has refused to apologise for the hurt he's caused. Whenever he's been offered the opportunity to apologise, he's stonewalled and refused to even acknowledge the question. Garner-Purkis attributes part of this to a fundamental issue with the scrutiny a London mayor faces: unlike the House of Commons where the Speaker makes an effort to ensure proper answers are provided during Prime Minister's Questions, a partisan moderator at the local assembly simply allows him to parrot press release material.
As Aaron Newbury tried to ask the question, Sir Sadiq took a vow of silence. Flanked on either side by press officers, he smirked and hugged delegates on the route. "I'm actually on the way to a meeting," he said before ignoring all the following questions. His PR people then did the talking. "I hardly think this is the appropriate setting to discuss these matters," one of them said, before suggesting they "arrange an interview".
Challenge to Arrange a Livestreamed Interview
Garner-Purkis responds that they have repeatedly asked for an interview before and been stonewalled. He says yes, let's arrange one, name the time and place, but it's getting livestreamed so everyone can watch Sir Sadiq's answers and judge for themselves. Another press officer told Aaron he should wait outside because they'd be "time" afterwards.
And wait he did. But when Sir Sadiq reemerged from the pub, he did not find time to deliver a message to the grooming gang survivors he's spent years ignoring. Instead, as Aaron tried in vain to ask more questions, Sir Sadiq chose to ignore the feelings of the vulnerable women exploited in his city and have a chat with Tony Blair's former head of communications, Alastair Campbell, instead.
