High profile former politicians along with current MPs and public figures gathered in West London on Tuesday at a memorial service for Leon Brittan.
Lord Brittan, a former Home Secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet, died on January 21 after a battle with cancer and very conveniently just before facing questions about a missing document at a public inquiry into Establishment child sex abuse.
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The Mail Online reports:
The service, at the West London Synagogue, was attended by former Chancellors Lord Lawson, Lord Lamont and Kenneth Clarke.
Nick Clegg, who resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats after their bruising defeat in the General Election, and former leader of the Conservative Party William Hague – who succeeded Lord Brittan as MP for Richmond in Yorkshire – also paid their respects.
It was Brittan who gave Clegg his introduction to politics, employing him as an office aide when he was a trade commissioner in Brussels.
Lord Hurd, who succeeded Brittan as Home Secretary in 1985 was also present at the service, as was Sir Malcolm Rifkind who served in various roles as a Conservative cabinet minister.
Brittan, a Tory peer, passed away before he could be questioned about a ‘bombshell’ missing document at a public inquiry into Establishment child sex abuse.
The controversy centred on a dossier on alleged high-profile paedophiles handed to Brittan by former Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens.
Brittan insisted he had passed the dossier on to the appropriate authorities, but no further action was taken.
Victims of child abuse believed Brittan had further questions to answer but his ill health and the Government’s inability to find a suitable inquiry chairman had delayed the start of evidence gathering.
The missing dossier was not the only controversy to engulf Brittan in his final months. He was also quizzed under caution by police over hotly contested allegations he raped a 19-year-old student in 1967.
He said: ‘I have been questioned by the police about a serious allegation made against me. This allegation is wholly without foundation.’
Niamh Harris
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