Westminster sex abuse: Police and politicians shamed in report for turning blind eye to crimes for decades

Politicians and institutions at Westminster turned a blind eye to sex abuse against children for decades to protect their own reputations, an official report today concluded.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse said there was “ample evidence” of abusers linked to Westminster carrying out crimes but it said they had been protected from prosecution by police, other politicians and the director of public prosecutions because “nobody seemed to care about the fate of the children involved”.

In a series of damning revelations, today’s report warns of a “profound” impact on victims and accuses political parties of being “more concerned about political fallout than safeguarding”, with such attitudes continuing “until very recently”.

The worst examples highlighted include the failure to act over allegations made against the Tory MP Sir Peter Morrison, who was made a minister, knighted and appointed as parliamentary private secretary to Margaret Thatcher despite senior officials in government and MI5 knowing that he was a potential abuser of boys.

It also accuses the former Liberal leader Lord Steel of “an abdication of political responsibility” for failing to take action against MP Sir Cyril Smith despite being told by him allegations made against him at the time were true.

The report describes “a vivid picture” of police corruption in London in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, including the “cruising of expensive cars around Piccadilly Circus by those viewing young men who would hang around the railings known as the ‘meat rack’ to be picked up by older men”.

It says that those protected from prosecution despite being “known or rumoured to be active in their sexual interest in children” at the time included Morrison and Smith.

It states: “There have been significant failures by Westminster institutions in their responses to allegations of child sexual abuse.

“This included failure to recognise it, actively shielding abusers and covering up allegations. ‘Deference’ [was shown] towards politicians and others believed to have some importance in public life... [and] the police paid little regard to the welfare of sexually exploited children.” Professor Alexis Jay, who chaired the inquiry, said: “A consistent pattern emerged of failures to put the welfare of children above political status although we found no evidence of an organised network of paedophiles within government.”

Other problems highlighted include the “extraordinary” emergence in the Seventies of the Paedophile Information Exchange which campaigned to legalise sex between adults and children and whose members included the former high commissioner to Canada Sir Peter Hayman.

The group was also supported by the National Council for Civil Liberties which is accused by the report of a “lack of moral courage” to confront the problem. On Morrison, the report says that allegations about his interest in boys were reported by MI5’s director general Sir Antony Duff to the cabinet secretary in 1986 but that the “security context” seemed uppermost in their mind “rather than any criminality”.

It says that is “unclear” whether Morrison’s danger to young children or his engagement in homosexual acts, which were regarded as a security risk, were reported to Lady Thatcher but that they were known to senior officials. It adds that despite “the persistence and gravity of these rumours”, Morrison’s career “was unaffected”.

Lady Thatcher is also criticised for pressing for a knighthood for Jimmy Savile despite revelations about his private life, with the report citing other cases as examples of how the system gave “preferential or exceptional treatment to individuals” with status and contacts “regardless of the known involvement of child victims”.

The report was compiled following three weeks of public hearings last year in which evidence was received from survivors of abuse, whistleblowers, Cabinet ministers, MPs and police.

It makes five recommendations, including a re-examination of policy on the posthumous forfeiture of honours and ensuring that political parties have comprehensive safeguarding policies.

This report is one of a series being produced by the inquiry which was set up by Theresa May following a series of high-profile claims about abuse at Westminster and other institutions.

It emphasises that there is no evidence of an “organised Westminster paedophile network” of the sort alleged by the convicted fantasist Carl Beech.

Beech, 51, made false allegations of murder and child sexual abuse against public figures including the former Army chief Lord Bramall and politicians Lord Brittan and Harvey Proctor.

He was convicted at Newcastle crown court of 12 counts of perverting the course of justice, one of fraud and for several child sexual offences.