She also accused the PM of not wanting questions asked “of Labour politicians who may be complicit”.

Sir Keir argued that several inquires had already been held into abuse carried out by gangs of men, predominantly of Pakistani heritage, and that a new probe would only delay the action the victims wanted.

And he said he would “call out” anyone who prevented victims of sexual abuse from coming forward.

The Conservatives have tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which calls for a national inquiry.

In the unlikely event the amendment is approved the bill, which includes measures aimed at protecting children and tougher rules around home-schooling, as well as changes to academies, would be scuppered.

Sir Keir said it was “shocking” Conservative MPs would try to block a bill aimed at helping vulnerable children by voting for the Tory amendment and accused Badenoch of “weak leadership”.

He said “reasonable people could agree or disagree” on whether there should be a fresh probe and acknowledged that there were mixed views among victims and survivors.

However, he accused Badenoch of only recently taking an interest in the subject and said she had failed to take action when she was in government.

“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 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.”

MPs are currently debating the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and will vote on the Conservatives’ amendment in the evening.

The Liberal Democrats have said they will abstain on the amendment. The party’s education spokesperson Munira Wilson said it would “kill crucial child protection measures” and accused the Conservatives of “using the victims of this scandal as a political football”.

Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, said his party would back the amendment but said the Conservatives’ interest in the subject was “insincere”.

He added that if the government would not call an inquiry, Reform would raise money to appoint “independent arbiters” to examine the subject.

The bill would require all councils to hold a register of children who are not in school.

It would also prevent parents from having having an automatic right to take their children out of school for home education if the young person is subject to a child protection investigation or suspected of being at risk of significant harm.

Conservatives have been critical of sections of the bill which states that all teachers should be part of the same core pay and conditions framework whether they work in a local authority-run school or an academy.

Academies – which are independent of local authorities – currently have the freedom to set their own pay and conditions for staff, and some academies exceed the national pay scales for teachers.

Conservative shadow education secretary Laura Trott called the move “educational vandalism” arguing that academies would lose freedoms that can help to recruit teachers and improve pupil outcomes in challenging areas.

The Emir of Qatar is on a state visit to the UK – and the King highlighted the Gulf state’s role in negotiations in the Gaza conflict and the return of Israeli hostages.

The diplomatic red carpet had been rolled out for the wealthy, gas-rich country, which has strong business and military ties to the UK.

Queen Camilla, who revealed she had been recovering from a form of pneumonia, attended the state banquet, having missed the outdoors parts of the official welcome.

State banquets are a centrepiece of such visits, held in the grandeur of the ballroom of Buckingham Palace, with a 4,000-piece dinner service.

Sir Keir Starmer, as prime minister, was on the top table for the first time, along with the King, Queen and Prince of Wales – and the Qatari royal couple, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani.

Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch was sitting next to David Beckham, who on his other side was seated next to Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris St-Germain football club.

David Beckham had been seen earlier holding hands with his wife Victoria as they arrived at the banquet.

The guests sat behind elaborate table settings – with microphones poking out of the flower displays of those speaking on the top table.

On the menu was a tartlet of Cornish lobster and quails eggs for a starter; with pheasant wrapped in Savoy cabbage, roasted celeriac puree and potato gratin with cheese from Suffolk, truffle sauce and winter vegetables as a main course; followed by an iced bombe with organic Samoan vanilla ice cream and a Balmoral plum sorbet.

Each guest had a setting of five different glasses – and for those wanting an alcoholic drink, the wine list included Chapel Down Grand Reserve 2018, Puligny-Montrachet Les Nosroyes, Domaine Genot-Boulanger 2019, Chateau Lynch-Bages, Pauillac 2000 and a Chateau La Tour Blanche.

A renovation project at the palace means this will be the last such state banquet held here for the next couple of years, with the next likely to be at Windsor Castle instead.

King Charles welcomed the Emir of Qatar and praised the country’s mediation efforts in the Middle East.

“In the most desperate of circumstances, Qatar’s continued toil, perseverance and diplomatic efforts are quite simply invaluable,” said the King.

A champion of building bridges between religions, the King quoted from the Quran – “Whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity” – and words from the Bible, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

In response, the Emir praised the King’s efforts for “inter-faith dialogue” and said the UK and Qatar are “not only friends, but partners”.

State visits are a mix of elaborate ceremony and practical politics, offering hospitality on a grand scale to an important international partner. It’s soft power with parades and chandeliers.

This carefully choreographed effort to strengthen relations with Qatar began with a ceremonial greeting at Horse Guards Parade and then a carriage ride along the Mall to Buckingham Palace.

On Wednesday there will be a meeting between the Emir and the prime minister at 10 Downing Street.

Qatar has been seen as an important bridge between the West and the Middle East, hosting international events such as the 2022 World Cup.The UK Foreign Office says Qatar is a key defence partner and that trade between the UK and the gas-rich Gulf state is worth £6.6bn per year, with £40bn of Qatari investment in the UK economy.

There are close military ties. The UK and Qatar have a joint RAF Typhoon squadron based at RAF Coningsby – the first joint RAF squadron since World War II, says the Foreign Office.

Catherine, the Princess of Wales, was part of the official welcome and carriage procession – her first participation in a state visit since the end of the chemotherapy that followed her cancer diagnosis. But she didn’t attend the state banquet in the evening.

The Queen had pulled out of the ceremonial welcome on a chilly Horse Guards Parade, as she continued to suffer from the side effects of a chest infection.

She told guests at the state visit that her chest infection had been a form of pneumonia, which has now cleared, but she still sometimes suffers from post-viral fatigue and bouts of extreme tiredness.

There have been criticisms over Qatar’s record on LGBT rights – and a small group of protesters shouted “Qatar’s anti-gay shame” as the royal carriages went past on the Mall.

There have been complaints about this week’s visit, including by the Peter Tatchell Foundation, which criticised Qatar’s record on LGBT rights, women’s rights and the treatment of migrant workers.

Human Rights Watch has said the visit should not ignore Qatar’s “troubling rights record”.

In response, the UK government says it regularly discusses human rights with its Qatari counterparts and is opposed to discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Our strong, historic ties with Qatar are vital to UK prosperity, growth and security.

“The UK government is committed to continued strong relations with Qatar to deliver partnerships of mutual value.”

Sir Keir Starmer said his government would “never turn away” from its partnership with the US, and also promised to build stronger bonds with Europe.

He also stressed the world faced “dangerous times”, saying stability was essential for growth, and the UK must continue to back Ukraine against Russia.

There’s long been speculation the US president-elect may launch a trade war against Europe and reduce support for Ukraine, even Nato.

In such circumstances, analysts suggest Britain would come under pressure to take sides.

Last month, a close ally of Donald Trump said Britain would have to choose between the US and UK’s “special relationship” and closer ties to the EU – which Trump describes as a “mini China”.

Stephen Moore said that if the UK moved “towards more of the American model of economic freedom… it would spur the Trump administration’s willingness to the free trade agreement with the UK”.

Reflecting on Sir Keir’s speech, Sir David Manning, former UK ambassador to the US, said the prime minister had the “right approach” but warned it would not be “easy”.

“It’s going to be a question of steering our interests between the two poles,” he said.

But he said it was “no good pretending to see eye to eye” on issues such as Ukraine and the Middle East, saying the UK will have to respond to what Trump imposes.

Speaking at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London’s Guildhall, an annual event held by the City of London Corporation and where the prime minister traditionally speaks on international issues, Sir Keir set out how the UK would now “stand tall on the world stage”.

“Against the backdrop of these dangerous times, the idea that we must choose between our allies, that somehow we’re with either America or Europe, is plain wrong,” he said.

“I reject it utterly. Attlee did not choose between allies. Churchill did not choose.

“The national interest demands that we work with both.”

He added: “There is no growth without security – and no security without alliances.”

In private as well as in public, there is optimism from those in government gaming out how Trump’s return to the presidency might look.

Regardless of the prime minister’s insistence that he would not have to choose between the US and the EU, there is a private recognition at the top of government that what exactly a Trump presidency would mean in that regard is unclear, depending in large part on which elements of his campaign rhetoric he decides to carry through.

In his speech, Sir Keir praised the incoming US leader as gracious, adding that he told him during their meeting in New York in September that the UK “will invest more deeply than ever in this transatlantic bond with our American friends in the years to come”.

Senior officials say that the dinner held between Trump, Starmer and David Lammy in the last weeks of the presidential election at Trump Tower in New York was genuinely warm, that the presidency’s affection for Britain – his mother was born in Scotland – was apparent, and that there was no sign at all he would hold past criticism from Starmer and Lammy against them.

They are much less sure about how Trump would behave towards Britain should the government make economic and diplomatic decisions of which he disapproves, such as closer involvement with the EU or a warmer relationship with China.

One senior government source involved in the discussions said of Trump: “He really does hate the EU.”

Trump has nominated Arkansas businessman Warren Stephens to be his ambassador in the UK.

The UK government is currently in the process of picking its US ambassador, with former Labour minister Lord Mandelson believed to be a contender for the role.

In his speech, the PM repeated his promise to rebuild and renew ties with Europe, which he said were vital to Britain’s security and prosperity.

He insisted it is “deeply in our self-interest” to support Ukraine against Russian president Vladimir Putin because “the future of freedom in Europe is being decided today”.

The UK is now “determined to fight harder on the world stage for our national interests and ready to dig deeper to defend them”, he said, because a win for Putin would damage “our own security, stability and prosperity”.

“So we must continue to back Ukraine and do what it takes to support their self-defence for as long as it takes.

“To put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence, and right to choose their own future.”

Supporting allies was what former prime ministers Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill had done, Sir Keir said, adding that he thought of the Attlee government of 1945 and its ambition to build “a country fit for heroes”.

“And they saw that maintaining our strength abroad gave us the foundation to succeed at home. That is as true today as it was then,” he said.

Now was the time, Sir Keir said, to “strengthen our security as the bedrock on which the economy rests – and the ultimate guarantor of everything we hold dear”.

Such words may be tested come January if the US imposes tariffs on European goods and demands the continent trades less with China, all while forcing Ukraine to cede territory.

Conservative Party co-chair Nigel Huddleston said it Sir Keir’s government had “set our country back” since Labour took power five months ago.

He said: “From driving business confidence to near-record lows, working people punished with a jobs tax, growth projections slashed, and a dash to surrender British interests overseas – it’s no wonder he’s been forced into a desperate reset.”