Lady Brittan in turmoil as ‘witch hunt’ takes new turn
‘Westminster strand’ of sex abuse investigations once again drags up discounted allegations from the past
THE Government’s beleaguered child sex abuse inquiry is threatening once again to drag up false allegations against Lord Brittan in a move that has caused deep distress to his widow.
The £100million inquiry has written to Lady Brittan warning her that she is likely to be “upset” by the re-examination of previously discounted allegations against her husband, the former home secretary.
Lady Brittan has already won damages of £100,000 from the Metropolitan Police over a botched investigation into unfounded claims that a paedophile ring existed in Westminster.
But now the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse – IICSA – is threatening to revisit a series of historic claims made against Lord Brittan, despite the fact police have exhaustively investigated and dismissed them.
The inquiry, which has lurched from one scandal to another since its launch, is expected to rake up a series of claims as investigations begin in March into allegations senior politicians in Westminster were paedophiles whose abuse was covered up by the authorities.
IICSA will also examine claims against Sir Edward Heath, the former prime minister, who died 14 years ago.
A £2million inquiry found no cor- roborating evidence to suggest he had sexually abused children, and his main accuser, a 68-year-old man, was jailed after being convicted of paedophile offences himself.
The letter sent to Lady Brittan last month – close to the fourth anniversary of her husband’s death
– has caused her huge anxiety and concern, according to her friends, who branded it a renewed “witch hunt”.
As Leon Brittan, he was one of the towering figures in Margaret Thatcher’s government. One friend of Lady Brittan said: “Why are they wasting their time and money on these false claims? She has had this very patronising letter saying, ‘We are sorry for your distress’. Lady Brittan just doesn’t understand … it is yet another witch hunt. But why? People like Leon have no voice.”
The letter is understood to have warned: “We are giving you advance notice that we are investigating the Westminster strand and in the course of all this your husband’s name will come up. We are sorry if this might cause you distress’.”
The source said: “Leon is dead and they don’t care.
They are going to impugn a dead person who doesn’t have a right of reply. That is a shocking thing to do. It feels politically motivated.” Lady Brittan declined to comment last night.
The allegations against Lord Brittan stem from a malicious briefing campaign against the Conservative home secretary dating back to the Eighties. It was suggested at the time he had been the victim of anti-semitic smears by disgruntled members of the security services. MI5 has submitted documents to IICSA that includes a list of politicians whose names appear in its files over child sex abuse allegations. Lord Brittan may be on the list. Allegations against him resurfaced in 2012 after Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, stood up to claim in Parliament that there was a “powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and Number 10”.
Police investigated the claims and found no evidence of any such network.
False allegations linked Lord Brittan among others – including celebrities – to Elm Guest House, in Barnes, south west London, where it was alleged boys had been sexually abused. A list of VIP abusers was traced back to Chris Fay, a one-time Labour councillor subsequently convicted of fraud.
The Metropolitan Police investigated his claims over almost two years and found no corroborating evidence. When Lord Brittan died in January 2015, Mr Watson described him as being “as close to evil as any human being could get”. Mr Watson later apologised for the distress he had caused.
IICSA is also likely to hear claims made against Harvey Proctor, the former Tory MP, who has been given core participant status for the Westminster strand of the inquiry. Last night he said he had still not been informed what claims had been made against him. He described the situation as “frustrating”.
Daniel Janner QC, son of the late Labour peer Lord Janner, also criticised the Westminster strand of the inquiry, which he said would let people make unsubstantiated allegations against those unable to defend themselves.
He said: “IICSA was launched on the bandwagon of hysteria following Tom Watson’s claims that there was a child abuse network reaching into Downing Street. That hysteria saw the wrongful naming of former politicians such as Sir Edward Heath, Lord Brittan, my late father Lord Janner, and others linked to Operation Midland.
“The inquiry has already racked up costs of £60million and there is no end in sight. It now looks like IICSA will allow a stream of allegations against the
‘Leon is dead and they don’t care. They are going to impugn a dead person who doesn’t have a right of reply’
dead who are unable to answer back and defend themselves. It is wrong to allow the presumption of guilt to be aired in the court of public opinion.”
IICSA has continued with its Westminster strand inquiry despite the fact that there is no evidence that any VIP paedophile ring existed among senior politicians. It has struggled since being set up in 2014 by Theresa May, who was home secretary at the time, in the wake of Mr Watson’s claims and the furore over the paedophile Jimmy Savile.
Three people have since resigned the chair and Ben Emmerson, counsel to the inquiry, was suspended and later forced to resign after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a lift on IICSA premises.
He denied the claim and was later cleared after an inquiry by a judge at his chambers. The current chairman is Prof Alexis Jay, who took over in August 2016 after Dame Lowell Goddard, a New Zealand judge, quit suddenly, complaining IICSA’S “legacy of failure” had been “very hard to shake off ”.