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The score, it seems, is now 2-4.

That is to say, two potential chairs for the grooming gang inquiry have pulled out, after four panellists walked away.

I could make a joke about the chair usually pulling out before the panellists leave – but this is not a matter for levity.

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Here‘s The Guardian:

Jim Gamble, a former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, is the second candidate to step down in the last two days, government sources have confirmed.

A former police officer who rose to become head of the RUC special branch in Belfast, [he] was one of two known leading candidates for the role.

The other, Annie Hudson, who was once head of children’s services at Lambeth, said she no longer wanted to be considered after intense media coverage.

It comes after four survivors invited on to an inquiry panel resigned and accused the UK government of attempting to manipulate them into broadening it to include other forms of sexual abuse.

Fiona Goddard has also accused safeguarding minister Jess Phillips of lying about attempts to broaden the inquiry’s scope, and called for her resignation.

The Home Office insists the process will continue, but it now appears to have lost almost all credibility before even beginning.

And with survivors now accusing ministers of trying to “broaden” its remit, one question hangs over the process:

If the government wants to widen the scope of the inquiry to include other forms of abuse, is it trying to avoid examining an aspect of the ‘grooming gangs’ issue itself?

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