Widow’s fury over top job for ex-Met boss

LORD Brittan’s widow has blasted moves to appoint the Scotland Yard chief who presided over the shambolic VIP child sex abuse inquiry as head of the National Crime Agency.

In a scathing attack, Lady Brittan – whose late husband was falsely accused of VIP sex abuse and murder by serial liar Carl ‘Nick’ Beech – said there was ‘little evidence’ that Bernard Hogan-Howe is a ‘suitable candidate’.

She called for the recruitment process for the director-general of the NCA to be transparent and ‘thoroughly’ consider candidates’ track records for the £223,000-a-year post. It comes after reports Boris Johnson was unhappy Lord Hogan-Howe, his preferred choice, was not initially shortlisted.

With the Government set to reopen applications, sources believe Lord Hogan-Howe could reapply and land the job. The peer, 64, resigned as Met commissioner weeks before a highly critical judge-led report on the Operation Midland sex abuse inquiry. Falsely accused former Tory MP Harvey Proctor also wrote to Mr Johnson urging him not to make the ‘cataclysmic’ appointment.

The Home Secretary is responsible for filling the position, but the appointment must also be approved by No 10.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘A fair and open recruitment campaign is under way.’