Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott has taken aim at Labour hypocrisy after Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips became the subject of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s latest criticisms.
As Labour face mounting pressure to tackle historic child abuse amid the grooming gangs scandal, Trott warned that all politicians should be “very careful” about the “language they use”.
Taking to his social media platform X, Musk branded Phillips a “rape genocide apologist who should be put in jail”, with the Labour minister admitting that she is now concerned for her personal safety.
Phillips told ITV: “You wake up with the realisation that that’s millions of people that he has said that to, and you feel immediately like this is going to turn my world upside down.”
Laura Trott has hit out at Labour hypocrisy following Elon Musk’s criticisms of Jess Phillips
GB News / PA
When asked directly if the situation had affected her, Phillips confirmed: “Yeah a little bit, a lot. Well a lot actually it’s… it’s not great.”
Speaking to GB News, Trott highlighted Labour’s 2023 social media campaign, which claimed that the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “doesn’t believe adults convicted of assaulting children should go to prison”.
Trott stressed: “We need to remember that Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips put out a social media graphic about Rishi Sunak that said that he did not want paedophiles to go to prison.
“So, I think it’s really incumbent on all of us to be very careful about our language.”
Labour’s post on X in 2023 claimed the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ‘doesn’t believe adults convicted of assaulting children should go to prison’
X
However, Trott also offered a defence for the Labour minister, claiming the comments made by Musk were “unacceptable”.
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“I think the comments that were made about Jess were completely unacceptable”, Trott stated.
When pressed on the growing scandal involving Britain’s grooming gangs, Trott called on Labour MPs to back a vote in the House of Commons, demanding a national inquiry into the gangs.
Trott said: “It is absolutely vital that we understand more about what has happened here. This does not stop action being taken in the meantime to further protect children.
“That is why we’re putting forward the vote later on today in the House of Commons, and that is why I hope Labour MPs will back it.”
Trott told GB News urged all politicians to be ‘very careful’ about the ‘language they use’
GB News
Trott defended her party’s previous record on the issue, stating: “We set up the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, but since that inquiry was set up in 2014 there have been a number of other horrific cases which have come to light.
“We also set up the gangs grooming task force in 2023, which reported in 2024 and showed that it made 550 arrests and protected 4,000 children.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper threw her support behind Phillips, telling GB News: “The Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls has dedicated her career to tackling sexual violence and abuse and to being a voice for victims and survivors of the most terrible crimes, including child sexual abuse.”
The Home Office has stated: “No child should ever suffer sexual abuse and exploitation, and it’s paramount that we do more to protect vulnerable children. Which is why we’re working at pace across Government to drive forward real action to implement the recommendations of the independent inquiry.”
