In a speech that sent shockwaves through the British Parliament, MP Andrew Bridgen made a staggering claim: "Over the past 100 years, approximately 250,000 women and girls have been raped in Britain, with 90% of the perpetrators being Muslim." This assertion, delivered with incendiary conviction, has sparked outrage, accusations of racism, and a renewed debate over crime, immigration, and political correctness in the UK. Bridgen's words, reported by The Jerusalem Post on July 19, 2025, have reignited discussions about the grooming gang scandals in Rotherham, Rochdale, and other cities.
Bridgen's speech, one of the most provocative in recent parliamentary history, aimed to highlight what he sees as systemic failures in addressing sexual violence linked to specific communities. He stated:
"Over the past 100 years, approximately 250,000 women and girls have been raped in Britain, with 90% of the perpetrators being Muslim."
This sweeping assertion was not delivered in isolation. It followed high-profile reports, such as the 2014 Jay Inquiry into Rotherham, which exposed the sexual exploitation of at least 1,400 girls, predominantly by men of Pakistani-Muslim descent, between 1997 and 2013. Similar scandals in Rochdale, Telford, and Oxford revealed organised grooming gangs targeting vulnerable girls, often with authorities failing to act due to fears of being labelled racist. Bridgen framed his claim as a call to confront these failures, arguing that "political correctness" has silenced truth and allowed a "dangerous ideology" to flourish unchecked.
Bridgen's claim of 250,000 rape victims over 100 years is a reasonable extrapolation. Similar figures have been cited by controversial figures like Lord Malcolm Pearson, who in a 2025 House of Lords speech referenced "250,000 victims of radical Muslim grooming gangs," as reported by The Journal. Pearson's estimate stems from scaling up the 1,400 victims identified in Rotherham's population of 255,000 to the UK's population, yielding figures like 162,000 (Oxford), 388,000 (Telford), or 440,000 (Rotherham extrapolation). These are not official statistics but rough projections based on specific, high-profile cases.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) provides more grounded data. The 2022 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated 798,000 women and 275,000 men experienced sexual assault (including attempts) in a single year, with 1.9 million women reporting rape since age 16. Extrapolating over a century is problematic due to changing definitions, reporting rates, and population sizes, but even a conservative estimate suggests millions of sexual assault cases since 1925. Bridgen's 250,000 figure, if referring only to rape, is likely an underestimate for total victims.
The UK does not systematically collect data on the religious affiliation of sexual offenders, as noted in a 2020 study by Cockbain and Tufail. Official reports, like the 2014 Jay Inquiry, confirm that in Rotherham, most perpetrators were of Pakistani-Muslim heritage, but this is specific to grooming gangs, not all rapes. A 2020 Home Office report found no evidence that any single community is "uniquely predisposed" to child sexual exploitation (CSE), emphasising diverse offender profiles. The CSEW and police data from 2020 show that 84% of sexual offense victims were female, but ethnicity or religion of perpetrators is not consistently recorded. Bridgen's 90% figure appears to conflate grooming gang cases with all rapes, ignoring the broader context where most sexual assaults occur within families or relationships, often by minority perpetrators.
Bridgen's speech draws heavily on the undeniable horrors of the grooming gang scandals. The 2014 Jay Inquiry found that in Rotherham, "girls as young as 11 were raped by large numbers of male perpetrators," with victims "doused in petrol," threatened with guns, and trafficked. Similar patterns emerged in Rochdale, where police and the Crown Prosecution Service apologised for failing victims, and Telford, where over 1,000 girls were abused between 1980 and 2009. These cases, predominantly involving British-Pakistani men, exposed systemic failures. Professor Alexis Jay noted that authorities "preferred political quiet over protecting victims," fearing accusations of racism. A 2015 report by Louise Casey highlighted Rotherham Council's suppression of ethnic data to avoid "community cohesion" issues.
These scandals lend credence to Bridgen's broader point about institutional cowardice. Former MP Ann Cryer, who first raised the issue in 2003, faced accusations of racism, as did Labour MP Sarah Champion, who resigned as shadow equalities minister after stating that "British Pakistani men" were disproportionately involved in grooming. A 2010 West Midlands Police report confirmed awareness of grooming at school gates, yet action was delayed. The fear of "Islamophobia" charges, as noted by Forbes in 2014, led police and social workers to sideline evidence, allowing abuse to continue.
Bridgen's claim has amplified a divisive debate. Supporters, including voices on X like @INSIGHTUK2, echo his assertion, framing it as a truth suppressed by "political correctness." Critics, including Labour MPs and academics, denounce it as Islamophobic and misleading. Jess Phillips, Labour's safeguarding minister, has championed victims but opposed new inquiries, arguing they delay action. Elon Musk's amplification of similar claims, accusing Keir Starmer of complicity, has further polarised the issue, with Starmer defending his CPS record.
The rhetoric risks inflaming tensions. A 2022 study on rape stereotypes found that 22.4% of UK respondents believed "men of certain races" are more likely to be rapists, with Black and Asian participants ironically more likely to hold such views. Posts on X, like those on FreeRepublic, predict dire cultural shifts, with some claiming "England will become Muslim" and native Britons will be a minority. Such narratives, while alarmist, reflect real fears about integration and identity.
Bridgen's speech highlights a real issue: the grooming gang scandals exposed horrific crimes and institutional failures driven by fear of racial backlash. His call to confront these without "political correctness" resonates with those frustrated by suppressed truths. Britain must confront sexual violence with data-driven policies, fearless investigation, and a commitment to all victims, regardless of background.