Ex-minister Lord Brittan under scrutiny over 1980s dossier of sex abuse claims

[dipsydoodle]

Downing Street is facing fresh calls for an inquiry into allegations of child sex abuse among politicians after it emerged that Lord Brittan, a former home secretary, was given a dossier containing claims of Westminster paedophile activity in the 1980s.

Brittan is under scrutiny over his handling of the scandal after he said he was passed a "bundle" of claims by the former MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983 and gave it to his officials to investigate.

Last year the Tory peer said he could not remember getting the dossier, but on Wednesday he released a statement saying he could now recollect a meeting with Dickens. He said he had asked officials to look into the claims and could not remembering hearing any more about it.

But his account was undermined by a Home Office review from last year that found Brittan wrote to Dickens in 1984 saying the material was assessed as being worth pursuing by the director of public prosecutions and was "passed to the appropriate authorities".

Brittan released a second statement saying he had only just been made aware of the Home Office review from last summer, which proved that "appropriate action" had been taken. He said the report was "entirely consistent" with the action he set out in his first statement.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/02/lord-brittan-1980s-dossier-sex-abuse-claims

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Ex-Home Secretary Leon Brittan questioned by police over rape claims

Former Home Secretary Leon Brittan has been quizzed by police over claims he raped a young woman, it was sensationally claimed last night.

The ex-Tory Cabinet Minister has been questioned in relation to allegations by a woman she was sexually assaulted at the age of 19.

Detectives questioned the Life Peer under caution last month and it was reported the incident allegedly took place in 1967 following a blind date.

Met Police are investigating claims that alleged incident took place at Lord Brittan’s London flat.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ex-home-secretary-leon-brittan-questioned-3818392

[non sociopath skin]

2. Amazing the number of rocks from under which unpleasant things are crawling, these days ...

The Skin

[dipsydoodle]

3. Hopefully there will be less rocks to hide under

and a subsequent report will not get buried "as publication not being in the public interest"

[dipsydoodle]

4. Lord Tebbit hints at political cover-up in 1980s over child abuse

The former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Tebbit has said he believes there "may well" have been a political cover-up over child abuse in the 1980s.

Lord Tebbit, who served in a series of ministerial posts under Margaret Thatcher, said the instinct of people at the time was to protect "the system" and not to delve too deeply into uncomfortable allegations.

His comment came as the Home Office announced a fresh legal review into what happened to a file alleging paedophile activity at Westminster in the 1980s that was handed to the then home secretary Leon (now Lord) Brittan by the Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens.

But as it emerged on Sunday that a further 114 possibly relevant files have also gone missing from government files– the government again ruled out a public inquiry into the allegations.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/06/child-abuse-coverup-1980s-lord-tebbit

[non sociopath skin]

5. "Lord Tebbit, who served in a series of ministerial posts under Margaret Thatcher

..... said the instinct of people at the time was to protect "the system" and not to delve too deeply into uncomfortable allegations ...."

... a midset shared by most absolute monarchs and dictators throughout the ages.

Might one ponder whether La Thatch is about to join the pantheon?

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

6. Perhaps he knows this? Perhaps because he collaborated with it?

Maybe he was more concerned with bashing gays and of course poor and unemployed people than with protecting children from abuse.

The other possibility is that he is just 'rentamouth'ing; though of course there was doubtless some sort of cover-up.

[oldironside]

8. Why didn't he speak out?

I can see him adopting the Esther Rantzen defence.

The loathsome old vampire should be ashamed of himself

[Anarcho-Socialist]

7. Tom Watson has been hinting at this big story for the last three years

I suspect that the key aim for Whitehall and the authorities is to protect the reputation of Margaret Thatcher. If it turns out that she was a friend of a great many paedophile beyond Jimmy Saville, it will no doubt raise questions into how much she knew and whether she had any hand in a cover-up.