Appeal for inquiry into historic child abuse cases in UK
Print Edition
BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron is facing calls to launch a full-scale inquiry into allegations that well-known politicians abused children in the 1980s, after an official said the government had lost files that might shed light on the matter.
The allegations, which purportedly involve powerful and famous figures of that era — including politicians — made headlines after an opposition lawmaker raised them in parliament.
They have resurfaced at a time when the British authorities are investigating and trying to prosecute celebrities and other public figures over unrelated allegations of sexual misconduct.
The opposition Labour Party has called for an “overarching review” into the allegations, accusing Cameron’s Conservative-led government of not doing enough and of failing to grasp the matter’s gravity.
“Given the extent of concern about this, Theresa May (Home Secretary) should not simply be leaving it to officials and to the prime minister to resolve,” Yvette Cooper, Labour’s home affairs spokeswoman, said.
“She needs to make sure there is a process people can feel confident in — to get truth and justice, but also to protect children in future.”
The way the public perceives Cameron’s government’s handling of the allegations is important for the British leader, who is up for re-election next year.
One of the country’s top civil servants, Mark Sedwill, wrote to Cameron on Saturday to say he was appointing a “senior independent legal figure” to judge whether the conclusions of an internal review into the matter last year remained sound. That person would be appointed “next week,” he said.
Sedwill said separately that the review last year had concluded that Britain’s Home Office had passed nine allegations about child abuse onto the appropriate authorities at the time.
The review uncovered a further four pieces of information, which have been passed to police, he said.
He also said 114 “potentially relevant files” had been destroyed, were missing or could not be found.
Education chief Michael Gove said yesterday that while it was important the allegations were looked at, he didn’t think a full-scale inquiry was needed.
“It’s important to emphasise that many of the allegations being made are historic and that what we do now ... in order to keep children safer is immeasurably better and stronger than was the case 20 or 30 years ago,” Gove told BBC TV.
Norman Tebbit, a former Conservative minister, said he thought there “may well” have been a political cover-up in the 1980s, but said it “was almost unconscious. It was the thing people did.”
Former Conservative minister David Mellor said he thought the matter had been exaggerated and that a “witch hunt” was under way.
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