Victims’ anger as Lib Dems clear Steel over Cyril Smith comments
A lawyer for the alleged victims of Liberal M PCyril Smith have expressed disap - point men ta ft er the suspension of former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Steel was lifted following an internal party investigation into what he knew about claims of child sexual abuse.
David Steel was suspended in March after telling an inquiry into historic child sexual abuse that he had confronted Smith in 1979 about media reports involving the late Rochdale MP.
Smith, who died in 2010, is accused of having abused children at several children’s homes in Greater Manchester from the 1960s to 1980s.
Lord Steel claimed“in accurate” media reporting was to blame for his suspension in March, while a statement from Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie referenced the peer’s “hearing difficulty and a lack of precision in providing some answers”.
Richard S corer, the lawyer representing Smith’s victims, said he was “disappointed”, adding: “The least my clients are owed is for the matter to be investigated in an open and transparent way rather than behind closed doors.”
Giving evidence, Lord Steel told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA): “What I said to him was ‘what’s all this about you in Private Eye?’
“He said, rather to my surprise, ‘it is correct’ that he had been in charge of or had some supervisory role in a children’s hostel, that he’d been investigated by the police, and that they had taken no further action and that was the end of the story.”
The Lib D em peer, who served as the first Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, later denied he had told the inquiry he was aware of Smith’ s actions, claiming that“some sections of the media have chosen to extract certain passages of evidence and present them without the full context ”.
However, he was suspended pending an inquiry ordered by the Scottish Lib Dem executive. Mr Rennie said the executive had “determined, after careful consideration, that there are no grounds for action against David Steel”.
He said: “We take the issue of vigilance and safeguarding incredibly seriously, so it was imp or tant to investi - gate following the evidence that David Steel gave to the independent public inquiry.
“In part because of a hearing difficulty and a lack of precision in providing some answers, it was necessary to seek further information from him for clarification.
“The clarifications that David Steel has provided to us state clearly that Cyril Smith did not confess to any criminality, which is why he took no further action at the time.”
Lord Steel said in a statement: “I am naturally pleased and relieved the Executive of the Scottish Liberal Democrats has completed their investigation and, after fully considering my responses to questions at IICSA, has lifted my suspension from the party and cleared my name.”
He added :“Opinions and assumptions are not facts, and those expressed in some quarters have caused me great personal distress.”