Former Conservative MP Michael Gove has backed allegations that the government attempted to suppress reports regarding “grooming” child rape gangs linked to Pakistan in 2011.
This week, more figures from Westminster have brought attention to issues within the UK government that created pressure to conceal a “grooming gang” scandal, following Casey’s review. It seems there was an effort to redirect public discussion towards more socially palatable topics.
Lord Michael Gove, who held several prominent roles in the last Conservative administration, received commendation from government insider Dominic Cummings. Cummings credited Gove for bringing this scandal to light. He mentioned during an interview with GB News on Thursday, “Dominique’s account is largely accurate.”
It’s connected to an initiative at the Ministry of Education, which Gove was leading in 2011, aimed at blocking articles that discussed grooming gangs through legal means.
Gove expressed in his comments: The era Published. ”
He clarified that he did not simply go along with the report, stating: The era because it’s important for the truth to emerge. ”
Gove mentioned that some council members and sympathetic officials within the government argued that “negative publicity” could impede Rotherham Council’s ability to improve its services. He indicated that this tendency to censor serious case reviews was common practice within the department, suggesting, “There’s little to be gained from them.”
He insisted that rejecting this notion was vital, arguing that “the only way to learn lessons” was through openness.
Looking ahead to future inquiries, Gove asserted that investigations should encompass Whitehall, not just local authorities and law enforcement.
Cummings, who was Gove’s advisor back in 2011 and later became prominent in the Brexit campaign, highlighted some incidents in an interview with Sky News. He remarked earlier this week: The era “Report, yet other officials from the DFE Private Office deemed this absolutely outrageous and believed we should expose it. Gove did, the judicial review escalated, and the Norfolk story gained traction.”
Commenting on the potential outcomes of a thorough national inquiry, Cummings stated, “We anticipated it would reveal considerable faults within Whitehall and showcase the extent to which they attempted to manipulate events.”
Various British organizations, including the English Defence League (EDL), have long raised concerns about the troubling phenomenon of Asian men “grooming” and exploiting very young girls in post-industrial towns across Britain. However, these warnings were often dismissed as racist. Many first became aware of the grooming gang issue—at least through credible sources—in 2011, due to a report discussed by Cummings and Gove written by journalist Andrew Norfolk.
As previously mentioned, this information came to light following a whistleblower incident involving a youth worker, known as Jane Sr., who reportedly brought “two cardboard boxes full of documents” to Norfolk several years later.
According to Breitbart London in 2015, there was a concern over leaks that caused Andrew Norfolk to stash documents in a location over 30 miles from his residence, agreeing not to discuss these matters for six months. Rotherham Borough Council even attempted a criminal probe to identify the leaker but faced significant ethical issues.
For Norfolk, he described reporting the story as “unpleasant” and noted that during the time of publication, he faced accusations of “racializing” crime. In a commentary for the Guardian, he pointed out the troubling implications behind the assertions of Muslim men grooming white girls. Norfolk tragically passed away unexpectedly during a medical appointment in May 2025 at the age of 60.
