The Cyril Smith cover- up

[UK Column News: Tuesday 21 November 2017]

Mike Robinson: "Well something interesting happened in parliament yesterday. Can you believe that ? "

Brian Gerrish: "Well it certainly wasn`t to do with defence and the Channel. So it must have been something exceptional."

On screen there appears a snippet from the House of Commons showing Ms Lisa Nandy MP who says: "The Home Secretary told me some papers would be withheld from the Cyril Smith inquiry for national security reasons. This week the Prime Minister has written to say, `We are clear that the work of security services will not prevent information being shared with other such inquiries.` So can she confirm to survivors of Cyril Smith who have waited for justice for decades that she was wrong and that the Prime Minister is right?" 

Amber Rudd: "Well I`m happy to confirm that the Prime Minister is always right... And I certainly will look at the letter the honourable lady has received to ensure that we comply with it."

Mike Robinson: "Now I`m sure Amber Rudd was speaking purely tongue in cheek there. I`m sure she wasn`t really serious about that."

 

Brian Gerrish: "Well I would suspect she is Mike because as you pointed out yesterday it`s clear that Conservative Central Office is telling backbenchers what to say in matters of defence. So I think we`ve now got a political system where the leaders are always right. Their views are the correct views and if you don`t follow those views you`re going to be leaving the party pretty quickly."

Mike Robinson: "So any way, the question is: why would an investigation, or papers related to an investigation involving child sexual abuse carried out by a member of parliament - why would that fall under the remit of the [national] security services... ?"

Brian Gerrish: "Inherently it would be under national security ... to see what the blackmail risk is principally for politicians and military people which is why the so-called personal vetting and background checks take place. You want to know about the background so that if you had somebody who`s involved in crime or taking drugs or involved in prostitution - whatever it is - they can be at risk of blackmail from a foreign power ..."

Mike Robinson: "OK, that`s fair enough for a currently serving MP or currently serving member of the government but of course what we`re talking about here is Cyril Smith who hasn`t been a sitting MP for quite a number of years and is in fact deceased. So in this case, you`ve got to wonder why Theresa May - well she`s apparently overruled this situation - but why the Home Office would think that any papers relating to a deceased MP would fall under the remit of national security when it`s historical?"

Brian Gerrish: "Well, my opinion. Because that historical path would bring us up to the present day and it would show ... not only the covering up of child abuse but the fact that child abuse itself is not historical, it`s an ongoing theme in the British government. So that would be my suggestion as to what the fear is."

Mike Robinson: "Of course MI5 does know some things and that came out in the Child Abuse Inquiry...  a week or two ago, whenever. They were looking into the situation in Rochdale which of course was where Cyril Smith was MP and what came out of that was that the Department for Public Prosecutions, as it was then,  had told MI5 that they were aware of allegations against Cyril Smith but these were spurious allegations in the media... We didn`t need to worry about them too much. Unfortunately the Department for Public Prosecutions` director at the time tried to cover this up. So the Inquiry has discovered this communication between DPP and MI5. So maybe there`s going to be more coming out from the Inquiry on this involvement - this awareness of the security services. You`ve got to ask the question: If they were aware of allegations, why didn`t they investigate further?"

Laughter.

Brian Gerrish: "We have to say `in the public interest.` Because it`s NOT in the public interest to know that you have paedophiles who are not only MPs but are part of serving government."

This report occurs 14.16 minutes into the news.

Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqH0B-SUsf8

"Smith was a Liberal MP for Rochdale between 1972 and 1992. "

"The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has heard allegations of abuse at Cambridge House hostel and Knowl View residential school, where he was a governor." 

"It will publish its findings next year."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-42064124