Labour MP links Leon Brittan to 80s child abuse claims: Amid row over historic sex crimes inquiry, former Home Secretary named in Commons, reports the Mail Onlline:
A Labour MP has used parliamentary privilege to accuse former Home Secretary Leon Brittan of ‘improper conduct with children’.
He used a Commons debate on the 1984-85 miners’ strike to suggest that those who took part in the industrial action will not be surprised by the allegations against Lord Brittan.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
The remarks from Jim Hood, who said there were ‘reports about child abuse being linked with’ the Conservative politician, were criticised as ‘disgusting’ by business minister Matthew Hancock.
Under parliamentary privilege, MPs can make contentious allegations without fear of prosecution for slander or contempt of court. But critics said Mr Hood’s comments were an abuse of this privilege.
The row comes amid calls for the head of the official inquiry into historic child sex abuse to resign over links to Lord Brittan, now 75. Fiona Woolf has admitted attending dinner parties with the politician, who was in charge of the Home Office in the 1980s.
It has been claimed that Lord Brittan was handed a file, which is now missing, in late 1983 which allegedly detailed child abuse at the highest levels of Westminster.
But he has not until now been publicly accused of having played a part in such abuse.
Niamh Harris
Be the first to comment