British politicians ‘covered up child sex abuse for decades’

From the 1960s to the ’90s, senior UK politicians protected child sexual abusers, an inquiry has found.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher pushed for a knighthood for serial child sex abuser Jimmy Savile, seen here together at a 1980 fundraising event for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children [Evening
Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

British politicians turned a blind eye to the sexual abuse of children and actively covered up allegations over decades, an independent inquiry into historical sex offences in Westminster has found.

The inquiry did not find evidence of an organised paedophile network in its examination of the period, covering the 1960s through until the ’90s.

But the report found there “have been significant failures by Westminster institutions in their responses to allegations of child sexual abuse”.

“This included failure to recognise it, turning a blind eye to it, actively shielding and protecting child sexual abusers and covering up allegations,” said the summary of the report.

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The 173-page report, published on Tuesday, found several members of parliament in the 1970s and ’80s, including Peter Morrison and Cyril Smith, were “known or rumoured to be active in their sexual interest in children and were protected from prosecution in a number of ways”, by police, prosecutors and political parties.

Peter Morrison was the private secretary to Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister at the time.

Both Morrison and Smith received knighthoods – a British honour which awards the title “Sir”.

The inquiry found about 30 instances of people’s honours being forfeited after they were convicted of crimes involving sexual abuse.

Thatcher also pushed for a knighthood for Jimmy Savile, which he got in 1990, despite revelations in the media about the TV presenter’s sexual abuse of children, the report said.The inquiry also discussed the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), which campaigned for the public acceptance of paedophilia and for changes in the law to allow adults to have sex with children.

It was accepted by some charities as the voice of an oppressed sexual minority and took part in London’s gay pride march in 1983.

“PIE’s aims were given foolish and misguided support for several years by people and organisations who should have known better… There was a fundamental failure to see the problem and a lack of moral courage to confront it,” the report said.

The inquiry found no evidence that the Home Office funded the campaign group.

British Conservative politician Peter Morrison was personal secretary to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher [File: Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

Home Secretary Priti Patel hailed the “strength and courage” of the victims who testified during the inquiry.

“The government will review this report and consider how to respond to its content in due course,” she said in a statement.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) – of which the Westminster investigation is one strand – is one of the largest and most expensive ever undertaken in the United Kingdom.

It began work in 2017 and is expected to take five years to complete.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/british-politicians-covered-child-sex-abuse-decades-200226095332809.html