“I can’t recall her once raising this issue in the House, once calling for a national inquiry,” he said.

Making her argument for a fresh inquiry during Prime Minister’s Questions, Badenoch said “no one has joined the dots, no one has the total picture”.

She noted that the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which lasted for seven years and concluded in 2022, had not had a specific focus on grooming gangs.

“We don’t need to repeat the work that has already been done. Let’s look at new areas.”

She said a new inquiry could explore “if there was a racial and cultural motivation to some of these crimes”.

“Be a leader, not a lawyer,” she urged the prime minister – a reference to his job before coming into politics.

The current row over the subject was triggered after GB News reported that the government had refused Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation.

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, has made numerous incendiary interventions on the subject including accusing Sir Keir of being “complicit in the rape of Britain”.

Following Prime Minister’s Questions, he posted a message on social media urging MPs to back an inquiry adding “hundreds of thousands of little girls in Britain who were, and are still are, being systematically, horrifically gang-raped deserve some justice in this world”.

Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, who turned down the request, has argued that in her experience locally-led inquiries, such as the one held in Telford, were more effective at implementing change.

However, speaking to Sky News, external she said “nothing is off the table” adding: “If the victims come forward to me in this victims panel and they say, ‘actually, we think there needs to be a national inquiry into this’, I’ll listen to them.”

Following Prime Minister’s Question, a Downing Street spokesman said that “significant” engagement with victims groups had shown “they do not want to see a national inquiry, they want action taken to deliver justice”.

“But as the prime minister said on Monday we will always remain open-minded. We will always listen to local authorities who want to take forward inquiries, or indeed further allegations that need to be followed up.”