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Here's a rule I tend to apply across the board in Westminster: if a politician is talking, politics is probably taking place.

Add into that: if the topic of debate is especially grave or serious, be more prepared to apply the rule, not less.

Which brings us to the grooming scandal.

There's no doubt Kemi Badenoch was politicising the issue when she ripped into the government in the Commons on Monday.

In fact, she's admitted as much.

Asked about it during her press conference, the Tory leader said: "When I'm in the Commons, I will do politics鈥� if every time we are pointing things out and doing our job we are accused of politicising something, it makes it a lot harder."

So the question here is less about whether politics is at play (it almost always is and that's not necessarily a bad thing), and more about whose interests the politics is working towards.

In other words, does Badenoch care about the grooming scandal because she cares about victims or because she cares about herself?

What does her record say?

To answer that, it's useful to try and pinpoint exactly when the Tory leader started showing such a keen desire for a public inquiry.

Was she always harbouring it? Or did it only arrive after Elon Musk and others pushed the scandal back up the news agenda?

On this, she's not helped by the record of the governments she served in.

Yes, the broader child abuse inquiry was announced under David Cameron, but there was no specific statutory grooming inquiry.

As late as 2022, the then Tory safeguarding minister was batting away demands for a public inquiry on the basis that locally led probes were preferable.

That is 鈥� as it happens 鈥� the same explanation the current Labour safeguarding minister Jess Phillips offered to Oldham Council in the rejection letter that sparked outrage and set us on a path to this eventual outcome.

"If we'd got this right years ago鈥� then I doubt we'd be in this place now," wrote Baroness Casey in her audit.

If Labour can be attacked for acting too slowly, the Tories 鈥� and by extension Badenoch 鈥� can be too.

Watch: Key takeaways from the Casey review

The politics changed

In response, her aides insist she was bound by collective responsibility while a minister and that the issue was outside her brief.

Badenoch also points to her work with patients of the now closed Tavistock Gender Identity Clinic as evidence of her track record campaigning for change in thorny policy areas.

In this context, the presence in the grooming scandal of questions around the role of gender and ethnicity mark this as an issue that you'd expect the Tory leader to not only be interested in, but to genuinely care about too.

But as previously discussed, just because a politician is somewhat sincere in what they are saying, doesn't mean there isn鈥檛 a dollop of politics mixed in too.

And having dug out a recording of a post-PMQs briefing with Badenoch's media adviser from January, that certainly seems to be the case here.

Asked what had changed to trigger the calls for an inquiry, the spokesperson said: "We can all go back and look at the reasons why this entered the popular discourse鈥� this is something that is of high public salience."

Or to put it another way, the politics changed.

We've just had a readout from Downing Street of the meeting between Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr ZelenAG百家乐在线官网y at the G7 summit in Canada this afternoon.

A spokesperson said the two leaders "agreed to drive forward the next stage of military support - adding that a strong Ukraine is essential to guarantee peace in the long term".

"They agreed to convene the next Coalition of the Willing meeting in the coming weeks," the spokesperson continued.

"They also discussed ramping up the economic pressure on Putin, with the prime minister updating the president on the new sanctions announced by the United Kingdom today.

"They agreed there should be no place to hide for those who fund Putin's war machine."

After the catastrophic general election loss for the Conservatives, Sophy Ridge asked someone who was on the inside for the party's entire time in government about the future.

Sarah Vine, the ex-wife of veteran former cabinet minister Michael Gove, was complimentary of Kemi Badenoch's performance as party leader so far.

"I think if you ask Twitter, you'd say she's doing quite badly. But I think that she is a grown-up. I think she knows where she's going. She's got a really good idea and a really good vision.

"We live in a world of fast politics, fast food, fast politics. She is slow politics. It's not a popular thing to try and be."

Badneoch's aim is to "rebuild the Conservative Party in a solid, sensible, functional way", Vine said.

She also categorically denied that Gove was the silent hand behind her leadership campaign, saying: "Absolutely not, no. They've had it falling out. No."

She added that there is only about 1% of truth in the stories that circulate around Westminster.

"Michael really admires Kemi and thinks she's very good, and they work together. But in terms of running her campaign, he's not been involved at all."

Veteran former cabinet minister Michael Gove's ex-wife has discussed with Sky's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge about the aftermath of the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Then prime minister David Cameron found himself on the opposite side of the debate to Gove, who advocated leave.

Sarah Vine said: "I think [Cameron] made a really big mistake walking away after the referendum.

"I didn't think he was going to do it because actually he's a very responsible person and takes things quite seriously."

She argued that had he said while he disagreed with the result but will stay on to manage a "smooth" and "painless" transition, then "things would have gone differently and I think it would have been much less of a psychodrama than it was".

"It was almost like he was the grownup, and then he suddenly left the room and then the children were like, well, hang on, what do we do now?"

Vine continued: "He was the person who started the fire. That's the thing. You don't start a fire if you can't put it out."

On tonight's edition of Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, we spoke to columnist and author Sarah Vine, who used to be married to veteran cabinet minister Michael Gove.

She told Sophy that they met when they were both journalists, and while he all but guaranteed he wouldn't go into politics, that's exactly what ended up happening.

Asked for her view of politics, Vine said: "I've always felt that good politics is politics that no one notices. My idea of a perfect politician is someone that just gets the job done and I don't ever have to see them or talk to them or think about them.

"But I think once I got into the world of politics, I realised that it's just a lot scarier and a lot more toxic than I think a lot of people realise."

She explained that there was a "process of dehumanisation", and politicians are "basically addicts" searching for "one more great moment".

"Kemi Badenoch put it very well when she said it's about the least perfect solution, and that is very true."

She also said the changing media and social media landscape "means that politicians are under fire constantly, and it's very stressful".

Vine also said she felt like an outsider, and thinks there is a certain class element to her treatment as well.

Those who go to certain schools and know certain people are listened to "because of what you are rather than who you are".

But normal people "have to fight to get your voice heard".

Asked how Michael Gove fared, she said he was "paddling quite hard" while serving in politics.

"Michael has a brain the size of a planet, and so he is brilliant at doing whatever it is he wants to do. But I think on a sort of personal emotional level, I don't think he is a glider [through the system], no."

We've just been speaking with Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who tabled the amendment that MPs agreed to that will decriminalise women having an abortion in England and Wales.

She told our political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh that she is "really pleased" with the result, but also said the "debate has been quite toxic".

But she said she has met women who have been through "financial and emotional trauma" and had their "personal life being public knowledge in a court of law", which is "just wrong".

Antoniazzi rejected suggestions from opponents that this change could see more coercive abortions, labelling such notions as "misinformation" that is "completely wrong".

"No woman that is pregnant wants to have an abortion. If they do, they always remember - it is something that will live with them for the rest of their lives," she said.

"There will be a reason why" these "vulnerable women" are seeking abortions, Antoniazzi added, and she argued they should not be criminalised.

The breakdown of the vote to decriminalise women for having abortions has just been published by the House of Commons.

It shows the measure was passed overwhelmingly by Labour and Lib Dem MPs.

Just eight Conservative MPs voted in favour of the amendment (Kemi Badenoch voted against), and all Reform UK MPs opposed it - except Nigel Farage, who abstained.

Cabinet members who backed the amendment included:

• Energy Secretary Ed Miliband;
• Cabinet office minister Pat McFadden;
• Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall;
• Defence Secretary John Healey;
• Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander;
• Environment Secretary Steve Reed;
• Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn;
• Scotland Secretary Ian Murray;
• Wales Secretary Jo Stevens;
• Commons Leader Lucy Powell.

No cabinet ministers voted against it.

This week we finally have a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

We are talking about accountability, and we are also - most importantly - talking about the victims. About the children, because they were children when they were abused.

But there's someone who always believed those children. He listened to them, and he fought for them - when other people turned a blind eye. Or worse, treated them like they were the criminals.

And the sadness is that he died just last month, a matter of weeks before Baroness Casey's review justified everything he fought for.

Watch: Key takeaways from the Casey review

Andrew Norfolk was a journalist for the Times, and back in 2003, he noticed a trend where groups of men of Pakistani heritage were being prosecuted for grooming and abusing young girls.

"I decided I've got to get over my fear that this story is impossible to cover," he said.

And that started years and years of unglamorous investigative work - which was met by a "wall of silence" when he put his findings to the police and social services. And he was also constantly disappointed by the lack of action.

He suffered a torrent of abuse. He was accused of racism, he received death threats - but after meeting the victims, he wasn't going to give up.

His first front page was published in 2011: "Conspiracy of silence on UK sex gangs." It's taken another 14 years for that conspiracy of silence to be fully lifted.

And it's a real shame that Andrew Norfolk isn't here to see that happen.

Next on Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, we are turning to events in the Middle East, and the prime minister told Sky News earlier that he does not believe an American attack on Iran is "imminent" - and he is "worried about escalation" in the region.

Speaking to our political editor Beth Rigby at the G7 summit in Canada, Sir Keir Starmer was asked about Donald Trump's rapid, early departure last night, and if his emergency meetings with his national security officials could mean an American strike is coming,

He replied: "Well, I don't think you should read into that that an American attack is imminent."

He said he and fellow G7 leaders "had a two-hour discussion with the president last night on the Middle East, on this very issue", and the statement that results was "very clear about the risk of the nuclear program in Iran, Israel's right to self-defence and the need to de-escalate across the region, including in Gaza".

Asked directly if he is worried about the situation in the region escalating, Starmer said: "Of course I'm worried about escalation, which is why my focus is on de-escalation. I'm worried about escalation in the region and the impact it would have in the region. And I'm worried about the impact it would also have on Gaza.

"And I'm very pleased that the focus now is also on a ceasefire in Gaza, which I want to press forward in coming days as well, but also the impact it's having on our economy."

Watch the full interview here: