Sajid Javid backs Labour MP Sarah Champion over rape column

A Cabinet minister has said there must be an "honest open debate" about child abuse, after a Labour frontbencher quit for saying Britain has "a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls".

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid suggested Jeremy Corbyn had forced Sarah Champion to resign as shadow women and equalities secretary over the comments, which were contained in a column in The Sun newspaper.

Ms Champion wrote: "Britain has a problem with British-Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls.

"There. I said it. Does that make me a racist? Or am I just prepared to call out this horrifying problem for what it is?

"For too long we have ignored the race of these abusers and, worse, tried to cover it up.

"No more. These people are predators and the common denominator is their ethnic heritage."

Mr Corbyn insisted his party would not "demonise" any particular group and said Ms Champion had been right to go.

She apologised for her "extremely poor choice of words" in the article, published on Friday, but the Equalities and Human Rights Commission said it was a "real shame" that she had resigned due to "over-sensitivity about language".

Mr Javid tweeted: "Corbyn wrong to sack Sarah Champion. We need an honest open debate on child sexual exploitation, including racial motivation."

Speaking on Thursday, the Labour leader said it was "wrong to designate an entire community as the problem" and maintained Ms Champion had decided to resign and had not been sacked.

"The problem is the crime that is committed against women from any community.

"Much crime is committed by white people, crime is committed by people of other communities as well. It is wrong to designate an entire community as the problem.

"What I think is right is to deal with the problem of the safety and security and vulnerability of often young women, who can be groomed by all kinds of people into some awful and dangerous situations."

Mr Corbyn had backed Ms Champion in the wake of the article being published, saying last Friday: "She has stood up for her city, she stood up against those that have abused children.

"That's why she said what she did and I support her in her work as a shadow minister and I say to everyone, if you think there's child abuse going on, report it, and I say to the police, don't be afraid of anyway you're going to investigate."

But a member of Mr Corbyn's top team repeatedly refused to be drawn when asked whether it was right for Ms Champion to go.

"I think you need to ask Sarah that question," shadow justice minister Yasmin Qureshi told the BBC's Today programme.

"Of course we should deal with abuse wherever it occurs and we should ask ourselves as to what we can do to ensure these things don't happen."