Westminster child sex abuse: Senior police and politicians knew about widespread paedophilia but ‘turned a blind eye to it’, inquiry finds

Senior political and police figures knew about child sexual abuse linked to Westminster but “turned a blind eye to it” amid a culture of cover up, an inquiry has found.

Political institutions significantly failed in their responses to allegations of child sex abuse for decades by “actively shielding and protecting perpetrators” and covering up allegations, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has concluded.

According to the inquiry, several highly placed people in the 1970s and 1980s, including Sir Peter Morrison MP and Sir Cyril Smith MP, were known or rumoured to be active in their sexual interest in children and were protected from prosecution in a number of ways, including by police.

Former Metropolitan Police officer Robert Glen told the inquiry his team had enough evidence to prosecute Sir Cyril Smith, a former Liberal MP, in the 1970s for sexual offences against young boys – but he claims the investigation was thwarted by senior officers who claimed it was “too political”.

The report also claims Liberal Party members “were likely to be aware of allegations against Smith” but “did nothing to inhibit his political progress”.

The party leader at the time, Lord David Steel, allegedly admitted to the inquiry that he “assumed” Smith had committed the offences alleged in a Private Eye article, but took no actions as it happened “before he was even a member of my party”.

In the late 1980s, allegations arose that Sir Peter Morrison, the Conservative MP for Chester, had been caught by police molesting a 15-year-old boy on a train at Crewe.

The report claims senior officials within the Conservative Party knew about allegations concerning Morrison for years but did not pass them on to police.

Instead, he became Margaret Thatcher’s Parliamentary Private Secretary in 1990 and was knighted a year later.

Thatcher was aware of rumours about Morrison but did nothing, Lord Armstrong claimed.