It is 10 days since I raised a question about intelligence suggesting
a paedophile ring that touched the very heart of a previous government.
I'd
done so because a very credible retired child protection professional
had lived with a gnawing suspicion of a cover-up for many years.
These allegations go way beyond claims made on BBC Newsnight.
I'm not going to let this drop despite warnings that my personal safety is imperilled.
It's spooked me so much I've kept a detailed log of all allegations should anything happen.
What I am going to do personally is speak out on this extreme case of organised abuse in the highest places.
It is abuse of power by some of the most powerful people.
Abuse
of trust by some of the most trusted. It is a sickening story, but one
which - like the truth about Jimmy Savile - is going to be told.
Was there a paedophile ring in No 10? MP Tom Watson demands probe?
A powerful paedophile network may have operated in Britain protected
by its connections to Parliament and Downing Street, a senior Labour
politician suggested yesterday.
Speaking from the back benches of the House of Commons, Tom Watson,
the deputy chairman of the Labour Party, called on the Metropolitan
Police to reopen a closed criminal inquiry into paedophilia.
Indicating
his anxiety that there had been an establishment cover-up, Mr Watson
referred to the case of Peter Righton, who was convicted in 1992 of
importing and possessing illegal homosexual pornographic material.
Righton,
a former consultant to the National Children’s Bureau and lecturer at
the National Institute for Social Work in London, admitted two illegal
importation charges and one charge of possessing obscene material. He
was fined £900.
A powerful paedophile network may have operated in Britain protected by its connections to Parliament and Downing Street, a senior Labour politician suggested yesterday.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Watson said the evidence file used
to convict Righton “if it still exists, contains clear intelligence of
a widespread paedophile ring”.
He told a hushed Commons: “One of
its members boasts of a link to a senior aide of a former Prime
Minister, who says he could smuggle indecent images of children from
abroad.
“The leads were not followed up, but if the files still
exist, I want to ensure that the Metropolitan Police secure the
evidence, re-examine it, and investigate clear intelligence suggesting a
powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and No 10.”
In
the aftermath of Mr Watson’s remarks, media outlets speculated that he
was referring to the late former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath – who
was the subject of unsubstantiated rumours about sex with under-age boys
– or to Sir Peter Morrison, a former Downing Street aide who died in
1995.
However, The Independent understands that Mr
Watson’s comments were not aimed at either Sir Edward or Sir Peter, but
at a living person associated with Margaret Thatcher’s administration.
They
are thought to involve the activities of the Paedophile Information
Exchange, a pro-paedophile group in existence between 1974 and 1984,
which believed there should be no age of consent.
Responding to
the remarks, David Cameron said the MP had raised “a very difficult and
complex case”, adding he was unclear which former Prime Minister Mr
Watson was referring to.
Criticising the BBC’s record on
Savile – who was never caught and died last year aged 84, the Prime
Minister said: "These allegations do leave many institutions - perhaps
particularly the BBC - with serious questions to answer - I think above
all the question, 'How did he get away with this for so long?'.”
He told MPs: "The most important thing is that the police investigation is properly resourced and is allowed to continue.”
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