A bloated inquiry

The key finding of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is that there was no evidence of an “organised Westminster paedophile network” nor of any attempts to cover it up by dark Whitehall forces. Yet it was precisely these allegations that led to the inquiry being established. Tom Watson, the former Labour MP and deputy leader, told the Commons in October 2012 that he knew of the existence of “clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and No 10”.

This information came from the fantasist Carl Beech, now serving a lengthy prison sentence for fabricating allegations of sex abuse against a host of senior politicians and other prominent men. However, while widely suspected as false, this was not known when Theresa May as home secretary announced an inquiry to examine how the country’s institutions handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. But what was intended to be a panel investigation has morphed into a lengthy statutory inquiry likely to cost more than £100 million without necessarily bringing justice to victims of historic child abuse.

In its findings on the Westminster allegations, the inquiry concluded that Cyril Smith, the former Liberal MP, and Peter Morrison, a Tory MP who was parliamentary private secretary to Margaret Thatcher, were allowed to get away with behaviour that should have led to a police investigation.

This is reprehensible and those who failed to act, like Lord Steel, the former Liberal leader, have accepted culpability. But it did not justify the moral panic triggered by Mr Watson and raises serious questions over his suitability for the peerage he is expecting.