'Ten Politicians Named' In Calls To Abuse Line

At least 10 well-known serving or former politicians are facing accusations of abuse, a child protection official has said

Dr Jon Bird, of the National Association for People Abused In Childhood , told Sky News a string of names, including those of some who are now dead, had been given by callers to the charity’s help line “again and again”.

He also warned there would be more to follow.

It comes as the senior civil servant at the Home Office, Mark Sedwill, prepares for a grilling by the Home Affairs Select Committee about how his department handled child abuse claims made over a 20-year period.

Dr Bird said: “The names of people in very high places – politicians, senior police officers and even some judges – have been going around as alleged abusers for a very long time.

“Since the Jimmy Savile revelations, there’s been a sea change in the way police and the CPS respond to these sort of complaints and now, at last, it looks like these people are going to be investigated.”

NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless has been asked by the Home Secretary to assess the quality of a review into child abuse claims, as well as the response of police and prosecutors to information passed on to them.

Theresa May announced the move on Monday along with a wider independent inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse allegations by state institutions and bodies such as churches and the NHS.

It is unlikely to report before next year’s General Election but Mrs May promised an update on its progress before then.

Earlier, Prime Minister David Cameron promised to leave “no stone unturned” in seeking the truth about widespread claims of a paedophile ring with links to the establishment in the 1980s.

Mr Wanless will look at concerns the Home Office failed to act on allegations of child sex abuse contained in letters passed on by former Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens to then Home Secretary Leon Brittan in 1983.

He is expected to report within eight to 10 weeks.

Mrs May said she was confident the review initiated by Mr Sedwill was “carried out in good faith” but added: “The public need to have complete confidence in the integrity of the investigation’s findings.”

The review found 13 items of information in Home Office files about alleged child abuse dating back to the period 1979-99 and passed details of four of them to police.

Mrs May told MPs that, while records of a number of letters from Mr Dickens were found, there was no sign of a “Dickens dossier”.

The investigation found that 114 potentially relevant files were missing, although it stressed there was nothing to suggest they had been removed or destroyed “inappropriately”.

Mr Wanless will also examine allegations that almost £500,000 of public funds were given to two organisations with links to the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange.

Lord Brittan has rejected claims he failed to deal adequately with Mr Dickens’ concerns when Home Secretary, saying they were “completely without foundation”.

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'Ten Politicians Named' In Calls To Abuse Line