Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A DARK DAY FOR BEAUTIFUL GAME
No excuse for failure to keep kids safe Survivors: Report doesn’t go far enough
DOMINIC CUMMINGS fired a rocket into the heart of the Government’s Covid response yesterday by claiming the Department of Health was reduced to a “smoking ruin” by the pandemic.
Boris Johnson’s former top aide criticised Matt Hancock’s department as an “absolute total disaster” over its role in buying huge amounts of PPE for the NHS frontline.
The Tories have been accused of cronyism after billions of pounds of contracts were handed to businesses with links to the party.
The Health Secretary hit back at a No 10 briefing, insisting the Government’s response had been a “team effort”.
He said: “The vaccines rollout has been a huge team effort, and it has been an awful lot of people pulling together to make it happen.”
Amid growing calls for a public inquiry, Boris Johnson said he was “deeply, deeply sorry” for the loss of lives in the past year due to Covid-19.
Asked at PMQS if he accepted his actions had “deadly consequences”, the Prime Minister said: “Am I sorry for what has happened to our country? Yes, of course. I am deeply, deeply sorry.
“Of course, there will be time for a full inquiry to enable us all to understand what we need to do better when we face these problems in the future.”
Mr Cummings had appeared before the Science and Technology Committee and called for an investigation into the Government’s handling of the virus.
In explosive testimony, he told
MPS there was a need for “a very, very hard look” at what went wrong at the Department of Health. “It’s why we had to take the vaccines process out of the Department of Health,” he said.
He claimed the disastrous procurement system was as a result of his two nemeses – the European Union and Whitehall.
He said: “I and others said repeatedly before 2020 this system is an expensive disaster zone and when it hits a crisis it will completely fall over. That system hit a crisis, and it completely fell over.”
Mr Cummings has agreed to give evidence of his role in the response to Covid last year.
A date has not yet been set for the session before a joint committee of MPS – which could probe more details of his lockdown-breaking trip to Durham and visit to Barnard Castle to “test his eyesight”.
Mr Cummings revealed that he was hired by the PM in a private summit in the aide’s living room where he told him to change the “disaster zone” of Whitehall.
Four months after his walkout from a No10 civil war, the ex-£140,000-a-year aide also admitted the Government had been “swamped by the Brexit problem”, which he said the PM branded a “huge nightmare”.
Mr Johnson’s spokesman disagreed with Mr Cummings’ description adding that both the health ministry and NHS were “central” to the vaccination programme.
But Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said his description was “a clear admission of fundamental mistakes that have contributed to us tragically experiencing one of the
highest death rates in the world”.
Am I sorry for what’s happened? Of course. I am deeply, deeply sorry BORIS JOHNSON AT PM’S QUESTIONS
FOOTBALL’S victims of child sex abuse say a long-awaited report on the horror does not go far enough.
FA chief Mark Bullingham said it was a “dark day for the beautiful game” as Clive Sheldon QC found the governing body failed to safeguard youngsters at a host of top clubs.
Even after coaches were taken to court, no child protection guidance was issued to those working in football, the Independent Report into Child Sexual Abuse in Football covering the years 1970 to 2005 found. Inquiry leader Mr Sheldon said: “There is no excuse.” The game’s most noto
rious paedophile Barry Bennell was first jailed in 1994, and a string of high-profile convictions followed between 1995 and 2000. The FA should then have done more to keep children safe, the report said.
Former Man City junior player Gary Cliffe, a survivor of Bennell’s abuse, said telltale signs were not acted upon. He said: “People knew or suspected, but none of the officials had the gumption to raise it with anyone – police, social services, anyone at all.
“That theme runs through the report, so it’s disappointing in that respect. I don’t think he has gone far enough.”
Ian Ackley, a youth player when he was abused by Bennell
over a four-year period, is now an abuse survivor support advocate for the Professional Footballers’ Association. He warned it would be “naive” to believe abuse had been eradicated.
Ex-england star Paul Stewart, now a safeguarding consultant, warned that authorities must remain vigilant about predators in the grass roots of the game.
He added: “There is a suggestion some of the worst abuse wasn’t reported to authorities before 1995. Many victims are angry about that – because it was.” Paul’s Manchester-based abuser Frank Roper, a junior coach, was convicted of indecent assault on a minor in 1960, 1961, 1965 and 1984.
There was “no formal mechanism” for Blackpool FC, where he worked as a scout, to obtain Roper’s criminal record.
It was possible allegations were made to the Club’s Youth
Team coach, but this could not be verified, the report added.
Those in charge of the game failed to ban two of the most notorious paedophiles, Bennell and ex-southampton coach Bob Higgins, from involvement in football. The report identified at least 240 suspects and 692 survivors. But it warned that the actual number of victims was likely to be far higher.
FA chief Mr Bullingham apologised and admitted a probe should have been launched when allegations first emerged against Bennell in the 1990s. He said: “For evil to flourish simply requires that good people do nothing. There are too many examples of that.” The 710-page report, commissioned by the FA in 2016, concluded: “Survivors deserve to be listened to, and their suffering deserves to be properly recognised.”
The report makes 13 recommendations, including the role of a Children’s Safeguarding Champion on the FA board. It also calls for checks at grassroots clubs.
The Offside Trust, which helps survivors of abuse, said that more wealthy clubs should support grassroots safeguarding.
The charity added: “We are deeply disappointed that the opportunity to create a worldclass standard for child protection and safeguarding in sport has been missed.”
Survivors’ suffering deserves to be properly recognised CLIVE SHELDON QC IN SEX ABUSE REPORT