Letter: MP Must Engage Seriously on Safeguarding Children

Published on: 10 Sep, 2025
Updated on: 10 Sep, 2025

From Angela Richardson

Former Conservative MP for Surrey

In response to: Feminist Campaigner Thrown Out of Pride in Surrey for Asking About Safeguarding

I pay tribute to the various women’s networks in Surrey and Julie Blindel for not looking away and making sure that safeguarding of children isn’t dismissed, or an afterthought, or “nothing to see here guv”, following the appalling rape of a 12-year-old boy by Stephen Ireland.

Many women tried to raise safeguarding concerns before the arrest and conviction of Stephen Ireland and they were dismissed, including the MP for Reigate, Rebecca Paul, when she was a Surrey county councillor.

I would just simply ask Zöe Franklin to engage seriously with this subject rather than hide away from scrutiny in rainbows.

I had swallowed the Stonewall propaganda before I became an MP. It was a simple conversation with a woman in a Cranleigh car park who had been the victim of domestic violence and sought refuge in a shelter, and who had genuine fear of sharing that space with a biological man, which helped me realise that we politicians had got the balance dreadfully wrong and that a campaign group had pushed their ideology too far.

I’ve no doubt that Zöe Franklin is feeling the same sort of heat on social media and in her inbox that I was subject to for standing up for women and children when it was deeply unfashionable. It goes with the privilege of the elected office she holds.

This however is fundamentally about safeguarding children and making sure that an organisation who tragically failed in that regard has learned its lessons and gone above and beyond to dot their i’s and cross their t’s.

Julie Blindel has the recorded evidence of her encounter at Pride in Surrey last weekend which should prove the nature of her interviews, including the questions put to Zoe Franklin and the responses she gave.

In the meantime I know who I believe.