SHAMING OF WATSON
Labour MP’s lurid claims of VIP paedophile ring were ‘baseless’, concludes abuse probe
‘No evidence to support sensational allegations’
TOM Watson’s bombshell claim about a VIP paedophile ring operating at the heart of Westminster was baseless, the £150million child sex inquiry has concluded.
The then-backbench Labour MP’s dramatic statement in the House of Commons in 2012, alleging there had been a ‘powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and Number 10’, was a ‘significant factor’ in the decision to set up the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
But yesterday its scathing 170-page report ruled there had been no organised child sex ring and no attempt to cover it up.
The verdict prompted renewed calls for Mr Watson – who stood down as an MP and the Labour Party’s deputy leader before December’s general election – to be refused a peerage. Mr Watson is reported to have been recommended for a seat in the Lords by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn despite being widely criticised over his links to the fantasist ‘Nick’, whose real name is Carl Beech, and his hounding of former Tory home secretary Leon Brittan over bogus child sex claims. Beech was jailed for 18 years in July for falsely accusing a string of public figures of historic child sex abuse, including Lord Brittan.
IICSA, which is still investigating a number of different strands of historic child abuse, said: ‘There is ample evidence that individual perpetrators of child sexual abuse have been linked to Westminster. However, the inquiry has found no evidence to support the most sensational of the various allegations, that there has been a powerful paedophile network operating within Westminster.’
Former top Scotland Yard detective turned whistleblower Paul Settle told the Daily Mail: ‘Tom Watson’s claims were politically motivated from the outset.
‘Despite claims to the contrary, he was only interested in pursuing allegations against Conservative politicians, insisting on them being hounded despite there being no credible evidence.
‘It is grossly offensive to those families which he caused so much hurt and pain that he should even be considered for a peerage let alone recommended.’ Days after Lord Brittan died in January 2015, Mr Watson branded the ex Tory Home Secretary as ‘close to evil as a human being could get’.
A report by former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques, which was published in October, found Mr Watson had piled pressure on detectives investigating the false claims made Beech, sending hundreds of pieces of information to the Metropolitan Police.
Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, who was also falsely accused of child sex abuse and murder by ‘Nick’, said last night: ‘Mr Watson should not be ennobled.’
It is understood that Mr Watson’s nomination was discussed earlier this month by the secretive House of Lords Appointments Commission, which vets the propriety of all those put forward.
It is not known what they finally recommended.
Mr Proctor said last night: ‘Tom Watson shamefully hood-winked the country for years to advance his own personal and political position. The police and the CPS should now consider arresting him and charging him for the wholesale damage he has done to the likes of the late Field Marshal Lord Bramall, Sir Edward Heath, Lord Brittan and others, including myself.’ In October, Mr Watson said he was ‘genuinely very, very sorry’ for his role in the fake claims about a VIP paedophile ring, saying that he had been trying to ‘do the right thing’.
The Daily Mail has asked Mr Watson to comment.