Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Labour MP links Leon Brittan to 80s child abuse claims

Allegations: Lord Brittan, home
secretary under Margaret Thatcher
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.

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.  (more...)


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