The revelation comes as key Westminster figures from the 1970s and 1980s have also been named in a series of files released by the Home Office.

A fresh search of Home Office archives resulted in a number of files that mention Sir Peter Morrison, who was an aide to Margaret Thatcher, former Cabinet minister Leon Brittan, ex-diplomat Sir Peter Hayman and former minister Sir William van Straubenzee as well as references to Kincora.

One of the files relating to Hayman was held by the Cabinet Office but "overlooked" during a previous trawl for information.

Documents that refer to Straubenzee had been earmarked for destruction but National Archives officials flagged them up to the Government.

Regarding these, the Permanent Secretary Richard Heaton stated in a letter: “On review my team noted that the file contained references to the Kincora Boys' Home.”

A final group of papers that name Morrison, Brittan, Hayman and Straubenzee as well as references to the Kincora children's home where boys were abused were "found in a separate Cabinet Office store of assorted and unstructured papers".

The paper expressed concerns by former intelligence officer Colin Wallace about Kincora.

The Home Office said a follow-up review was carried out after a file emerged earlier this year that should have been submitted to the Wanless and Whittam inquiry into the handling of allegations that prominent figures were child abusers.

Three senior staff were jailed in 1981 for abusing boys at the east Belfast home in the 1970s, but it has been long suspected that well-known figures within the British establishment were also involved.

Two former military intelligence officers, including Wallace, have alleged that the security services blocked police investigations into the child abuse.

One victim, Gary Hoy is seeking to judicially review the decision to keep the probe within the remit of a Stormont-commissioned body.

Home Secretary Theresa May has so far refused to allow Kincora to be investigated by the UK inquiry headed by Justice Lowell Goddard, stating that the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry led by Sir Anthony Hart in Northern Ireland is the best forum for examining the allegations.

The relevant papers have been drawn to the attention of Sir Anthony Hart, who has already started to review these, according to the Cabinet Office letter.

Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Programme Director Patrick Corrigan, reacted: “If Theresa May knew these papers existed, how could she exclude Kincora from the Goddard Inquiry?

“The latest revelations will only fuel public disquiet that Kincora has been excluded from the one inquiry which has a chance of getting at the truth.

“Kincora should be investigated alongside claims of establishment involvement in child abuse rings in other parts of the UK.

“Nothing less than a full public inquiry – with all the powers of compulsion which that brings - can finally reveal what happened at Kincora. It is not too late for the government to reconsider its position.”