VIP paedophiles: Tom Watson stood on Teresa May’s iceberg and danced on graves
Tom Watson has raged against the ‘Murdoch Press’. He has stood in the Commons and talked about powerful paedophiles. The deputy leader of the Labour Party also wrote to the DPP demanding a “full review” into claims of rape and sexual abuse against Lord Brittan
Former Tory MP and home secretary Brittan is dead.
The Times reports:
Tom Watson pressured police to investigate a string of sexual abuse allegations against Leon Brittan, the former home secretary, based on the evidence of three witnesses who were subsequently discredited… Labour’s deputy leader led the way in pushing for a criminal investigation into Lord Brittan of Spennithorne, saying that he found the alleged victims to be credible and sincere.
And…
Yesterday details emerged of a letter Mr Watson wrote to Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, in May last year, in which he demanded a full review into claims of rape and sexual abuse.
Demanded?
Within weeks of Mr Watson’s letter in May last year, Lord Brittan, who was terminally ill with cancer, was questioned by police over Jane’s allegation of rape. It has been reported that there were inconsistencies in her evidence. The Met has since informed the peer’s widow that they have abandoned that investigation. It is unclear what action police took in the two other cases.
Well, there was no court cases.
Despite growing criticism of his role in whipping up interest in the allegations against Lord Brittan, Mr Watson has not publicly commented on claims made by Panorama that the “VIP paedophile scandal” was falling apart. A spokesman said the Labour deputy leader was abroad on holiday and had not yet viewed the Panorama programme. Mr Watson is not expected to make a public statement until this weekend at the earliest.
On his jolly hols.
In a letter to The Times today, Lord Lester of Herne Hill, a Lib Dem peer, calls on Mr Watson to apologise. He accused him of having “mounted what I believe to be a sustained, cowardly attack on my old friend Leon Brittan”.
Does he read the Times on holiday?
Boris Johnson has asked Britain’s most senior policeman to explain the “completely unacceptable” delay in telling Lord Brittan’s widow that he had been cleared. He said: “I welcome the fact that the Met has now apologised to Lady Brittan. It is clear that the delay in informing her that there was no case to answer is completely unacceptable and I have raised the matter with the [Met] commissioner.”
The police on the PR beat have an agenda. And Watson, who attacks Murdoch but not so much the hacking Mirror; who goes for old Tories but… Well, the Murdoch-owned Times has more:
Tom Watson has apologised for saying that the former cabinet minister Leon Brittan was “close to evil” at a time when tributes were flooding in after he died early this year.
Evil. Not bad. Not corrupt. Not criminal. Evil. And you still dare call it a witch-hunt?
Writing in the Huffington Post, Watson says:
“In October 2012 I asked a question in parliament about a network of paedophiles.”
What network?
“An investigation into their activities had been closed down before reaching a conclusion.”
What network?
“Two of them have now been convicted and they are serving long sentences. I have passed more information to the police since then and a third man has also been sent to prison partly as a result of this. My motivation throughout has been to help victims as best as I could.”
Yes, but what network? Nonces have been locked up. But no network has been found.
“In 2014 I wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions asking her to look into serious allegations that had been made against Leon Brittan. Let me set out as clearly as I can why I wrote that letter.”
Vanity?
“I had been told of multiple allegations about Leon Brittan and I had met some of the people making those allegations at their request. I did not and could not know if they were true but I did believe their claims should be fully investigated.”
Believe. Claims.
“I have heard many disturbing and harrowing accounts of child abuse since I asked that question in the House of Commons…”
And…
“It is impossible not to become deeply upset and angry when listening to them.”
Is it? Any sane human being finds child abuse abhorrent. We can all agree on that, right? But the courts cannot become deeply upset and angry on hearing a story. Justice is blind. It requires facts. The law must hurdle barriers to prosecution. What you believe and feel are not facts. They may even appeal to your own prejudices.
“When the death of Leon Brittan was announced, I worried that the justice system would no longer take its course and that the allegations would never be thoroughly investigated.”
So you grandstanded on the dead man’s grave. You said “evil”.
“As the tributes flowed in from his lifelong friends I felt for those people who claimed he abused them. I repeated a line used by one of the alleged survivors, who said: ‘He is close to evil as any human being could get’. I shouldn’t have repeated such an emotive phrase.”
No. But you did. Words matter. You believe the words others tell you. You chose your words.
“The choice facing anyone who is presented with testimony of this kind is whether to pass it on to the authorities and urge them to investigate or to ignore it. I chose the first option. I felt it was my duty to do so.”
Duty to whom? Yourself? The State? Your Party? God?
Tory MP Nigel Evans opines:
“Even when Leon had died, Tom Watson decided to repeat the allegations. It is totally unfounded.”
Former Chancellor Norman Lamont writes in the Daily Telegraph:
“After Lord Brittan’s death came the police raid on his two houses, while his widow was still sorting out his belongings, some of which were carted away. As with Cliff Richard … BBC journalists told people that they had been tipped off by the police. Before Lord Brittan died, the police, referring to a rape accusation, suggested he should take part in identity parade. seems beyond satire. How could a well-known public person, already named and identified by his accuser, usefully take part in such a charade?”
“I visited Lord Brittan several times in his last days and saw the suffering of a man under the shadow of the vilest accusations. This was an extremely painful time for his wife.”
The BBC notes:
Earlier this week, a vulnerable man who made sex abuse allegations against high-profile figures, including Lord Brittan, told the BBC he may have been led into making the claims by campaigners.
Theresa May, the Home Secretary adds:
“I think all those of us in public life need to be very careful about the language we use and how we talk about things.”
That’s the woman who said on the telly:
“We must, as a society… get to the truth of that and because I think we we’ve already seen revealed is the tip of the iceberg on this issue.”
That iceberg’s meting away.
Posted: 9th, October 2015 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
