The Home Office minister Mike Tapp has offended some parliamentary colleagues in his latest interview with GB News. The former military man, who was rapidly promoted to a government post after joining the Commons last year, told the channel that the new grooming gangs inquiry was “about ensuring that if there is a link between ethnicity, between race, between culture, that we identify that so we can deal with it”.
He posted a clip of the interview to his X account on Wednesday morning with the message: “The Home Secretary was clear today; we must identify and address any links between ethnicity, religion and culture – and child rape.”
The Pygge has already seen one formal complaint from a Labour MP to their whip, which asks whether the government’s official position is now that black, Asian and minority ethnic citizens or residents of the UK might have a high predisposition to be child rapists. Other MPs have expressed unease about the post to the whips office. There were also ructions about Tapp’s post in the black Parliamentary Labour Party WhatsApp group on Wednesday morning.
One MP was told by a whip that the matter was being discussed on Wednesday but it is not yet clear what the outcome will be. It is worth emphasising that investigating the links between ethnicity or religion and grooming gangs is part of the terms of reference for the national grooming gangs inquiry, and was recommended by the peer Louise Casey in her audit of group-based child sexual exploitation.
Since she became Home Secretary in September, Shabana Mahmood has been saying that ethnicity and religion would be investigated. Nevertheless, Tapp’s punchy social media output appears to have riled some in his party. Responding to the outcry on X, Tapp said: “Today I’ve been attacked for backing Baroness Casey’s call to investigate links between grooming gangs (child rape) and ethnicity, culture and religion. And attacked for stating at the dispatch box yesterday that the majority of people who come here are decent. I’ll never shy from difficult conversations, that’s service!”
[Further reading: Gordon McKee is taking the biscuit]
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