CHIEF CONSTABLE HAS BEEN PILLORIED FOR SIMPLY DOING HIS DUTY
IF SIR Edward Heath were still alive today, I would be his local MP. His famous former home, Arundells, lies in the very heart of my Salisbury constituency.
So I was as appalled as anyone else at the manner in which the inquiry into sex abuse allegations against him began in 2015.
For a Wiltshire Police officer to stand outside Arundells to appeal for witnesses was insensitive.
But over the past year, my anger at that ill-judged approach has given way to greater concerns.
I have watched with increasing disquiet as the inquiry has been subjected to repeated attacks seemingly designed to discredit it before it even sees the light of day.
And the man who took the difficult decision to launch it, Mike Veale, has been pilloried, his competence and professionalism questioned.
As someone who knows and respects Mr Veale, I find this deeply unfair.
In my constituency dealings with him, I have found him to be a dedicated and principled police officer.
In deciding to proceed with this inquiry, Mr Veale faced a profoundly difficult decision.
Sir Edward’s friends are understandably concerned that his reputation is not destroyed when he is no longer here to defend himself.
Given how other high-profile political sex-abuse inquiries collapsed, Mr Veale could have been forgiven for ignoring the allegations concerning Sir Edward.
Scotland Yard’s disgraceful hounding of former Tory Home Secretary Sir Leon Brittan will have borne heavily on his mind.
I suspect that if Mr Veale’s main concern was his own future career prospects, he would never have launched this inquiry. Instead, he did what I think was the right thing and decided that every allegation of such a serious crime must be judged on its own merits, however unpleasant and controversial.
If there are victims of historic child sex abuse in this case, they deserve to be heard and have their allegations properly investigated.
Sadly, critics of Operation Conifer have casually conflated it with previous discredited inquiries, as if one set of unfounded allegations automatically disproves others in perpetuity.
Nothing could be more damaging to public trust in our police and political system.
Of course some mistakes will have been made in Operation Conifer, such as its launch. And in any such complex investigation, unfounded claims will have been made and unreliable witnesses spoken to.
But Mr Veale has made extraordinary efforts to ensure this inquiry is proportionate and appropriate.
This inquiry was never going to ‘prove’ Sir Edward’s guilt one way or the other.
Only a court of law can do that and obviously the former PM can no longer face trial. But Operation Conifer may at least shed some light on whether he should have done.
If there are victims here, their cases must be heard