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Politics latest: Grooming report says authorities were in 'denial' about ethnicity of gangs

The home secretary has set out the details of Baroness Louise Casey's "damning" report on child sexual abuse. Hear from the baroness live on Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge now - watch below.

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Whitehall officials tried to convince Gove to go to court to cover up grooming scandal in 2011

By Liz Bates, political correspondent, and Sam Coates, deputy political editor

Whitehall officials tried to convince Michael Gove to go to court to cover up the grooming scandal in 2011, Sky News can reveal.

Dominic Cummings, who was working for Lord Gove at the time, has told Sky News that officials in the Department for Education (DfE) wanted to help efforts by Rotherham Council stop a national newspaper from exposing the scandal.

In an interview with Sky News, Mr Cummings said that officials wanted a "total cover-up".

The revelation shines a light on the institutional reluctance of some key officials in central government to publicly highlight the grooming gang scandal.

In 2011, Rotherham Council approached the Department for Education asking for help following inquiries by The Times. The paper's then chief reporter, the late Andrew Norfolk, was asking about sexual abuse and trafficking of children in Rotherham.

The council went to Lord Gove's Department for Education for help. Officials considered the request and then recommended to Lord Gove's office that the minister back a judicial review which might, if successful, stop The Times publishing the story.

Lord Gove rejected the request on the advice of Mr Cummings. Sources have independently confirmed Mr Cummings' account.

Watch the full report here:

The judicial review wanted by officials would have asked a judge to decide about the lawfulness of The Times' publication plans and the consequences that would flow from this information entering the public domain.

A second source told Sky News that the advice from officials was to side with Rotherham Council and its attempts to stop publication of details it did not want in the public domain.

One of the motivations cited for stopping publication would be to prevent the identities of abused children entering the public domain.

There was also a fear that publication could set back the existing attempts to halt the scandal, although incidents of abuse continued for many years after these cases.

Sources suggested that there is also a natural risk aversion amongst officials to publicity of this sort.

The Department for Education and Rotherham Council have been approached for comment.

The Casey report says something that has never been said so clearly before

The grooming gang scandal is something that has cast shame on this country.

Some of the most vulnerable girls in this country raped, abused, beaten - and then let down again by the institutions that they should have been able to trust.

Ignored, dismissed, or worst of all, treated like they were the ones who had something to be ashamed of. As if they were the criminals, rather than the victims.

And those girls have also been let down by the Westminster debate around this, that frankly has been more interested in political point scoring than the sexual abuse of working class girls.

But today, however, something changed, with the astonishingly brave report by Baroness Louise Casey - a woman who is a truly a force of nature.

This abuse scandal has been riven with difficulty because the crimes were predominantly carried out against white girls by British-Pakistani men - and that is something that the Casey report tackles head on.

It found that in cases of child sexual exploitation, "the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators" - which obviously means it's hard to gain a full picture of what's going on.

But she goes on to say: "There is enough evidence available in local police data in three police force areas that we examined which show disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds among suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation, as well as in the significant number of perpetrators of Asian ethnicity identified in local reviews and high-profile child sexual exploitation prosecutions across the country, to at least warrant further examination."

Nowhere and at no point has that been said so clearly before.

And she goes further: "The system claims there is an overwhelming problem with White perpetrators when that can't be proved."

The system. She doesn't say what the system is, but we all know what she means. And I have to say, it is so refreshing to read a report from someone who cares so little for the opinion of the system.

Louise Casey says she conducted her audit with the victims front and centre of her mind. And it shows.

Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge is live

Our flagship weeknight politics programme is under way.

Joining us tonight are Baroness Louise Casey, who authored the government's rapid review on child sexual abuse, and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips.

On our panel are Starmer biographer Tom Baldwin, and former safeguarding minister, Laura Farris.

Watch live in the stream at the top of this page.

Meanwhile, minister Hamish Falconer is giving a statement in the Commons about the government's response to the Air India crash last week, which you can watch live below.

Sky News Daily: Was there a Whitehall cover-up of the grooming gangs scandal?

Whitehall officials tried to convince Michael Gove to go to court to cover up the grooming scandal in 2011.

That's according to Dominic Cummings, who was working for Gove at the time.

In an interview with Sky's political correspondent Liz Bates, Cummings has revealed how officials in the Department for Education wanted to help efforts by Rotherham Council to stop a national newspaper from exposing the scandal.

On the Sky News Daily, Mark Austin speaks to Liz Bates about the scandal and what Cummings told her.

Starmer joins Trump and G7 leaders for roundtable meeting

As we've reported, the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is in Canada to meet with fellow G7 leaders.

He is currently in a roundtable discussion, and is pictured below sitting next to US president Donald Trump.

We would imagine there will be more than a whisper in his here about implementing the trade deal signed with great fanfare last month...

Lammy: 'No military action can put an end to Iran's capabilities'

The foreign secretary tells MPs that "it should come as no surprise that Israel considers the Iranian nuclear programme an existential threat", pointing to comments from Iran's leader about Israel's destruction.

David Lammy says: "We have always supported Israeli security. That is why Britain has sought to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon through extensive diplomacy.

"We agree with President Trump when he says that negotiations are necessary and must lead to a deal."

That has "long been the view" of succesive government, Lammy says, and explains that the UK, France, and Germany have had five rounds of talks with Iran this year alone.

"Fundamentally, no military action can put an end to Iran's capabilities," he says.

The foreign secretary says 20 plots from Iran on British soil have been foiled since 2022, and lists various measures the government is taking to limit Iran's influence in the UK.

But on the Middle East, he says: "A widening war would have grave an unpredictable consequences, including for our partners in Jordan and the Gulf."

With the ongoing war in Gaza, instability in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq on the rise, and the Houthi threat remaining, Lammy says "further escalation in the Middle East is not in Britain's interest".

With Iran being a main oil producer and a vast amount of the world's trade flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, an "escalating conflict poses real risk for the global economy".

To that end, the government's message to Israel and Iran is: "Step back, show restraint, don't get pulled ever deeper into a catastrophic conflict whose consequences nobody can control."

Lammy also calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, restrictions on aid to be lifted, and adds that the government "will not stop striving to free the hostages" still being held by Hamas.

Missile sirens sound in Israel as Lammy addresses MPs on conflict

As the foreign secretary addresses the House of Commons, sirens have gone off in many parts of Israel.

The IDF says missiles have been launched by Iran at Israel, and people in those areas should go to bomb shelters until they are told it is safe.

Follow live updates here...

Foreign secretary explains how the Foreign Office is helping UK nationals stuck in Israel

The foreign secretary opens his statement to MPs by saying that Israel launched "extensive strikes" on "targets including military sites", nuclear sites, key commanders, and nuclear scientists, and Iran has responded with ballistic missile fire.

The government first priority is "the welfare of British nationals", David Lammy says, and says they "stood up a crisis team in London and the region".

He tells the House that the government is now asking UK nationals to register with the Foreign Office so they can "share important information on the situation, and leaving the country".

Rapid deployment teams are being sent to Egypt and Jordan to help UK nationals who decide to leave Israel by road, given that the airspace remains closed.

Lammy says: "The situation remains fast moving. We expect more strikes in the days to come.

"This is a moment of grave danger for the region, and I want to be clear - the United Kingdom was not involved in the strikes against Iran. This is a military action conducted by Israel."

Watch live: Foreign secretary makes statement on Israel-Iran shooting war

The foreign secretary is on his feet in the House of Commons giving a statement on the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran.

David Lammy is expected to set out the government's position on the conflict, and discuss what the government is doing to assist Britons stuck in Israel.

Watch live on Sky News, in the stream above (refresh the page if you can't see it), and follow live updates here in the Politics Hub.

MP who survived child sexual abuse asks about support for victims

Josh Babarinde, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastbourne, raises support for the survivors of child sexual abuse, and the implementation of this review's recommendations.

He tells MPs: "As a survivor of child sexual abuse myself, I stand in solidarity with the many victims and survivors that the system has failed over many, many years.

"And I can say that the horror, the trauma, the guilty never leaves you, and I so hope that every survivor who is identified here receives the mental health support, and otherwise they deserve to rebuild their lives."

Babarinde continues: "Survivors have witnessed very many promises, 20 recommendations, and the call of never again, time and again. What will the home secretary do and how will she reassure them that this won't be another one of those examples?"

He also hits out at the Kemi Badenoch's response to Yvette Cooper's statement, saying: "I am really let down and disgusted that the leader of the opposition began her remarks with a party political assault on her opponents like this.

"Victims and survivors deserve more than a smug 'I told you so', diatribe. Victims and survivors deserve action."

Cooper replies by saying that him talking about his experience would help other victims.

"She says the government wants to extend therapy available for victims, adding: "He is right to raise the challenge of how do we ensure that recommendations are actually implemented."

Home secretary says there can be 'no hiding from justice' for those who failed to act

Paul Waugh, the MP for Rochdale, tells the Commons that "we know all too well how many years it has taken for victims to get the justice they deserve".

He says: "They have waited many, many years to see these sick criminals locked up and put behind bars, but also, I mean only last week we had seven more of these perverts locked up in Rochdale and that is a testimony to the police and the prosecution who finally got these cases together."

He goes on to say that "the victims also want accountability for anyone in positions of authority, as she has said 鈥� anyone who found out about this and failed to act, or who knew about it and failed to act".

Waugh puts to the home secretary: "Does she agree with me that no councillor of any political party, no social worker, no police officer, no council officer and no ethnic group should hide from the fierce scrutiny of this national inquiry?"

Yvette Cooper replies it is "shameful how long it has taken to get justice for those victims".

She adds: "There can be no hiding from justice for anyone on this appalling issue, where victims and survivors have been let down for far too long, and I would hope that this would be a cross-party process to support that."