Whitehall officials tried to convince Lord Gove to cover up grooming scandal, he tells Sky News

Whitehall officials tried to person Lord Michael Gove to spell to tribunal to screen up details of a study into the grooming ungraded successful 2011, helium has said, confirming Sky News reporting earlier this week.

Speaking to Sky's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, the erstwhile elder furniture curate said it is "undoubtedly the lawsuit that much should person been done" to forestall the maltreatment of young girls successful Britain, admitting that it weighs connected him.

The allegations of an attempted cover-up were archetypal made to Sky News by erstwhile Downing Street advisor Dominic Cummings successful an interrogation with Sky News, and the claims were substantiated by different sources arsenic well. Mr Cummings was moving for Lord Gove, who was past acquisition secretary.

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Lord Gove explained that successful 2011, helium learned that the precocious Times writer Andrew Norfolk, who helium described arsenic "a heroic newsman who did much than anyone to initially uncover this scandal", was seeking to people details of a study from Rotherham Council astir the maltreatment and grooming of young girls.

He said: "Rotherham Council wanted to halt that happening. They wanted to spell to tribunal to forestall him publishing immoderate details, and we successful the Department for Education were asked by the council, 'would we articulation in, would we beryllium a enactment to that tribunal enactment to halt it?'

"And I had to look astatine the case, advised by Dominic [Cummings] and by others, and determination were immoderate wrong the department, immoderate officials who said, 'be cautious, don't let this to beryllium published, determination whitethorn beryllium risks for relatives of the victims concerned."

Rotherham Council besides argued that work whitethorn airs "risks" to the process of "improving successful the mode successful which it handles" grooming cases, helium continued.

The judicial reappraisal wanted by officials would person asked a justice to determine astir the lawfulness of The Times' work plans and the consequences that would travel from this accusation entering the nationalist domain.

But Lord Gove said: "My presumption astatine the time, advised by Dominic and by others wrong the department, was that it was decidedly amended for it to beryllium published."

"So we said to Rotherham, we volition articulation the case, but we're joining it connected the broadside of the Times and Andrew Norfolk due to the fact that we judge successful transparency."

'Tough questions' for Whitehall

Lord Gove went connected to accidental that a nationalist enquiry could spot immoderate "tough questions" asked of the Home Office astir its civilization and its interactions with the police.

But those questions volition besides beryllium posed to 2 departments helium led - the Department for Local Government and the Department of Education, and helium said: "I deliberation it's close that determination should be, due to the fact that the quality and standard of what the victims person endured means that there's an work connected each of america who've been successful immoderate signifier of elected bureau to beryllium honorable and unsparing successful looking astatine what went on."

He said helium "certainly didn't person the cognition astatine my bid that we present bash astir the wide quality of this activity".

'Not astir enough' advancement made

Sophy Ridge enactment to Lord Gove that contempt commissioning a study connected what was happening to girls successful care, and not seeking to artifact the work of Andrew Norfolk's reporting, helium inactive failed to marque change.

He replied: "Yes, truthful it is undoubtedly the lawsuit that much should person been done."

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He admitted that it "absolutely" weighs connected him, and that "not astir enough" advancement was made connected the extortion of susceptible girls.

"With the payment of hindsight, I bash privation that I had been much vehement successful trying to transportation radical to instrumentality due action," helium said.

Local authorities 'sought to contradict scale' of scandal

The present Spectator exertion went connected to accidental that determination was "pushback, peculiarly but not exclusively, from those successful section government" to consequent questions astir taste background, and helium said "local councillors and others sought to contradict the standard of what was happening and particularly, sought to contradict questioning astir the individuality and the inheritance of the perpetrators".

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He continued: "I deliberation the close happening to bash is for everyone to admit that sometimes determination were radical who were acting from noble motives, who did not privation to summation taste and radical anxieties, who did not to instrumentality far-right flames, and thought that it was amended to measurement distant from the truly grim world of what was going on.

"I tin recognize that. But ultimately, that didn't service anyone. It did not service the victims."

The Department for Education and Rotherham Council did not respond erstwhile approached for remark earlier this week connected the claims archetypal made by Dominic Cummings, revealed by Sky News.