A recent claim about a Home Office memo misrepresents guidance on vulnerable children and police involvement
London: So, there’s been a lot of chatter about a 2008 memo from the Home Office that supposedly told police how to handle vulnerable kids. Some posts on social media, even shared by Elon Musk, claimed it said these kids made “informed choices” about their situations. Sounds pretty wild, right?
One of the posts even dragged Keir Starmer into it, saying he had some role in this guidance. But here’s the kicker: that quote doesn’t actually show up in the 2008 document. Instead, the memo was more about how police should use their powers under the Children Act of 1989.
What really happened is that a former prosecutor, Nazir Afzal, mentioned something similar in a 2018 interview. He was talking about how some police interpreted the guidance, but he later clarified that he never saw the actual memo. He was just passing along what he heard from other officers.
Now, the Home Office has made it clear that there’s no memo telling police to ignore grooming gangs or that victims were making choices. They’ve always been firm about going after those who exploit children.
In fact, the circular in question was sent out months before Starmer even became the director of public prosecutions. He was still a barrister at that time. So, the timeline doesn’t add up.
It’s a messy situation, and it’s easy to see how misinformation can spread. But the facts show that the claims about the Home Office memo are pretty much unfounded.
