article: Pressure has grown on Shaun Wright, who was in charge of children's services in Rotherham from 2005 to 2010, to step down in the wake of a damning report. The report found at least 1,400 children in the town were sexually exploited by mainly Pakistani heritage criminal gangs between 1997 and 2013. Mr Wright said he was the most appropriate person to hold the office. Jack Dromey told the World Tonight on Radio 4: "Shaun should go and we're absolutely clear if he does not agree to resign he will be suspended from the Labour party tomorrow morning." Mr Wright needs to "exercise his conscience and face up his responsibility", said Mr Dromey. Senior politicians from other parties have also called on Mr Wright to step down from his role as police and crime commissioner (PCC). Home Secretary Theresa May said he should "heed calls" to resign. She said it was not her job as home secretary to hire and fire PCCs. She added: "I think he has real questions to answer. I think in the circumstances he should heed those calls." BBC Newsnight's Laura Kuenssberg earlier tweeted that Mr Wright was said to be at home, "consulting with his family about his future". Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, said Mr Wright "needs to stand up and be counted for what happened under his watch". Other senior party figures, including shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, shadow chancellor Ed Balls and shadow welfare minister Chris Bryant, also joined calls for him to resign. Mr Wright apologised to victims but insisted he had no knowledge of the "industrial scale" of child abuse when he was a Labour councillor in the South Yorkshire town. A report commissioned by the council was published on Tuesday and revealed the massive level of abuse in Rotherham. The inquiry team noted fears among council staff of being labelled "racist" if they focused on victims' descriptions of the majority of abusers as "Asian" men. 1,400 children were abused, 1997-2013 1/3 of victims were already known to social services 157 reports concerning child sexual exploitation made to police in 2013 10 prosecutions were made between 2013 and April 2014 However, Mr Wright told the BBC the scale of the problem in Rotherham had "come as a surprise". "Had I known then what I know now I could have done more," Mr Wright said. "As an elected member I came into this role to make a difference. At every stage I've done my utmost to protect those people. "I have taken lessons learned in that office and brought them to bear in my new role with South Yorkshire Police. "I believe I am the most appropriate person to hold this office at this current time," he said. Rotherham Borough Council leader Roger Stone quit following the publication of the report, which was commissioned by the council and detailed gang rapes, grooming, trafficking and other sexual exploitation on a wide scale in the South Yorkshire town. Race, fear and abuse in Rotherham Town consumed by shock and disgust But calls for
summary: A Labour frontbencher has said the party will suspend South Yorkshire's PCC if he fails to quit by the morning.