A national grooming gang inquiry ordered by Keir Starmer is facing further disruption after one of two candidates who had been shortlisted to lead it withdrew from the process.
Annie Hudson, a former director of children’s services for Lambeth, told survivors on Tuesday that she no longer wanted to be considered after intense media coverage.
Her decision comes after three abuse survivors resigned from their roles on the victims and survivors liaison panel, accusing the Home Office and ministers of sidelining them and manipulating the agenda.
“Elizabeth”, which is not her real name, stepped down on Tuesday, joining Fiona Goddard and Ellie Reynolds, who quit the panel on Monday in protest.
Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, has denied claims of a cover-up and insisted her government was “committed to exposing the failures” to tackle “these appalling crimes”.
Appointed as chair of the child safeguarding practice review panel in December 2020, Hudson’s decision leaves Jim Gamble, a former head of the Royal Ulster Constabulary special branch in Belfast, as the only known candidate.
Home Office sources said there were other candidates still being considered, with final interviews being conducted this week.
On Monday, Goddard and Reynolds had criticised the choice of a former social worker and police chief for the role of chair, claiming it was inappropriate to have senior figures from two professions previously involved in cover-ups of grooming scandals.
In her resignation letter, Goddard, who was abused by gang members while living in a Bradford children’s home, wrote: “Having a police officer or social worker leading the inquiry would once again be letting services mark their own homework.
“The shortlisting of these potential chairs shows the government’s complete lack of understanding of the level of corruption and failings involved in this scandal.”
The third survivor, Elizabeth, quit on Tuesday, saying she was leaving the panel because she believed the process had been “scripted and predetermined”, “rather than emerging from honest, open dialogue with survivors”.
A survivor of the Rotherham scandal, she said on X that she was “deeply concerned that there still isn’t a genuine understanding of the grooming gangs scandal, nor the lasting trauma it has caused”.
She said: “What is happening now feels like a cover-up of a cover-up. It has created a toxic environment for survivors, filled with pressures that we should not have to deal with.”
All three survivors have accused officials of trying to water down the inquiry by widening the scope beyond grooming gangs into broader issues of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Reynolds said the “final turning point” in her decision to quit was a move to widen the inquiry “in ways that downplay the racial and religious motivations behind our abuse”.
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Phillips told MPs the appointment of the chair was at a “critical stage” but said Louise Casey, in recommending a national inquiry, said she did not want a judicial-led process.
“She [Casey] was explicit, and if anyone in this house can find me an institution that didn’t fail these girls over the years, including our courts who took the children away from grooming gang victims, who criminalised some of them – there is no institution in our country that hasn’t failed.
“We will continue today, I will meet with many of the victims and get their feedback, and I will continue to progress with that in mind.”
Downing Street also responded to accusations that the inquiry’s remit was being widened to downplay the racial and religious motivations behind abuse, saying the prime minister was aware that victims have been let down by the prioritisation of community relations.
Responding to the survivors’ resignations, Phillips told MPs she regretted the departure of Goddard and Reynolds and insisted she would continue to speak to them about the inquiry.
She also said “not all victims are of the same opinion – they are not one homogeneous group of people, who all think the same thing, who all want the same exposure, who all want their identities known.”
“I will engage with all the victims, regardless of their opinions, and I will listen to those that have been put in the media, that are put in panels, I will always listen and I will speak to all of them.”
The inquiry panel of victims from which Reynolds and Goddard resigned was not managed by the government but by NWG, a grooming gang charity, Phillips said.
The shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said the inquiry into grooming gangs was “descending into chaos”, while Phillips said allegations the inquiry was being diluted or intentionally delayed were “false”.
