UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Ben Quinn and Josh Halliday
Wednesday 22 July 2015
Government papers about the former home secretary Leon Brittan are among a fresh batch of documents which have come to light months after the conclusion of an official review into whether allegations of child abuse were covered up by the Home Office in the 1980s.
The documents also reveal that the then director general of MI5 corresponded with the Cabinet Secretary in 1986 about an unnamed MP who was alleged to have “a penchant for small boys” but accepted the politican’s word that he did not.
The letter from Sir Anthony Duff to Sir Robert Armstrong added: “At the present stage … the risks of political embarrassment to the government is rather greater than the security danger.”
Making it clear that they are “concerned and disappointed” about not being told earlier about the documents, the authors of a report earlier this year into allegations historical child abuse by powerful figures cited the letter as a “striking example” of how crimes against children were not considered as seriously as they would today.
“The risk to children is not considered at all,” Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, and barrister Richard Whittam, said in a supplement to their review, published online on Wednesday.
The Home Office said a fresh search of the archives had been carried out after a file emerged earlier this year that should have been submitted to Wanless and Whittam.
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