It’s a mess. And it is extraordinarily difficult.

To give you a sense of that, one of the candidates to rule themselves out of chairing the grooming gangs inquiry is Jim Gamble.

Gamble’s career goes like this: he worked in policing in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

And then he spent years working to protect children from exploitation.

Neither are roles for the faint hearted, to put it lightly. And yet not even he wanted to take on chairing this inquiry.

So who on Earth would want to do it?

There is a reluctant acceptance in government that finding someone who is willing to do it, will last the course and will be universally accepted among the victims as the right person for the job is almost certainly impossible.

Little wonder then that those in government are making it known they are willing to spend months finding the right person to do it.

The best they can hope for, in all likelihood, is someone backed enthusiastically by some and tolerated by others.

“There is no such thing as a clean skin. Anyone with the necessary expertise and clout will likely come with what some will perceive as baggage,” one Whitehall source told me.

And the personnel issues don’t end there.

There has been a row over the last few days about whether the Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips should stay in her job – after some of those victims involved in setting up the inquiry said she should be replaced.

When we first reported that news, I was reminded of a thing reporters like me should always keep in mind. Journalists, inevitably, lean towards the outspoken, who generate headlines.

Rightly so – choosing to be outspoken, to go public with deeply held concerns, is often brave and noble. But reporters also shouldn’t forget those who have chosen to remain quiet.

The vast majority of the 30 victims recruited to the panel being consulted in setting up the inquiry have not spoken out publicly.

Multiple sources in government are making it clear there is a widespread determination – from No10 to the Home Office – to keep Phillips in post.

And the latest twist is five other abuse survivors have written to the prime minister to say they will only continue to work with the inquiry if Phillips keeps her job.

It is another impossible bind the government finds itself in.

The central truth here is the victims of sexual abuse have been repeatedly and profoundly let down by multiple agencies of the state, over years, even decades.

Little wonder establishing, let alone maintaining trust is incredibly difficult.

“Upset and vulnerable people hit out when they are in pain, and that is entirely understandable,” is how one senior government figure put it to me.

The panel members, I am told, are of a range of views and instincts – on their willingness or not to speak out, on their views on those who chose to do so or not, on who should chair the inquiry, how it should be run and on Jess Phillips.

Merely setting up this inquiry, let alone conducting it and then implementing the conclusions it comes to and the recommendations it makes, is already proving to be a huge headache.