A lot in the news recently about "celebs" being found guilty of indecent assault and paedophilia. Not so much about the "dodgy dossier" covering alleged MPs offences.
The MP Geoffrey Dickens who is no longer alive passed a dossier in the 1980s to Leon Brittan, the Tory Home Secretary at the Home Office alleging a paedophile ring "in and around Westminster".
The result of the Home Office review was that the credible parts of the dossier were passed to prosecutors and the police but the rest of the dossier was either not retained or destroyed.
Apparently, according to his son, the same week that Dickens handed over the dossier to the Home Office, his flat was broken into and ransacked. Nothing was stolen.
Sounds like the script of a Beeb thriller about crime in high places. Let's hope an inquiry uncovers what actually went on.
How's about it, MPs
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andy at handiwork
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Re: How's about it, MPs
Not holding your breath are you DJ?
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Arginald Valleywater
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Re: How's about it, MPs
His name escapes me but I recall an article about a 60s and 70s Labour stalwart being a rampant abuser but his activities were covered up as he was too powerful to arrest.
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David Johnson
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Andy
Nope, I won't be holding my breath.
However half a dozen MPs were jailed over the expenses scandal and that's not including the likes of Archer and Jonathan Aitken who have done stretches in jail so I would not completely discount it.
However half a dozen MPs were jailed over the expenses scandal and that's not including the likes of Archer and Jonathan Aitken who have done stretches in jail so I would not completely discount it.
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max_tranmere
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The dossier...
The dossier passed to Leon Brittan in the 1980's would have been one of thousands of things passed to him during his time at the Home Office. Something as shocking as paedophilia would I am sure stick in Brittan's mind but as to the whereabouts of the dossier now he can not be expected to know where it would be - I'm certain it has been destroyed or possibly lost.
I was a Civil Servant for many years at a large Government department just a stone's throw from Parliament. There is a large file store, the size of an aircraft hanger, several miles away in an ordinary part of London, where papers and files get sent once they're not needed any more. This huge building is the archives for all the government departments and contains literally millions and millions of files and papers.
Once a file or dossier is no longer current it gets sent there, and there is something on the cover of all Government files saying that it will be destroyed in ten years time unless it is especially requested that it not be. So most of the files from the 1980's, literally about 99.99999% would have been destroyed by now. I also remember the archiving was done badly at times - you would request a file from them which had been sent there only a few months before and the staff would sometimes have difficulty finding it.
I'm sure the dossier everyone is talking about now was genuinely either destroyed or lost years ago. Leon Brittan should remember all about the episode if papers were passed to him about it back in the 1980s as anyone would remember a horrible issue like paedophilia, but in terms of where the papers are now I honestly believe they've most likely been destroyed or there is a small chance they were lost.
I was a Civil Servant for many years at a large Government department just a stone's throw from Parliament. There is a large file store, the size of an aircraft hanger, several miles away in an ordinary part of London, where papers and files get sent once they're not needed any more. This huge building is the archives for all the government departments and contains literally millions and millions of files and papers.
Once a file or dossier is no longer current it gets sent there, and there is something on the cover of all Government files saying that it will be destroyed in ten years time unless it is especially requested that it not be. So most of the files from the 1980's, literally about 99.99999% would have been destroyed by now. I also remember the archiving was done badly at times - you would request a file from them which had been sent there only a few months before and the staff would sometimes have difficulty finding it.
I'm sure the dossier everyone is talking about now was genuinely either destroyed or lost years ago. Leon Brittan should remember all about the episode if papers were passed to him about it back in the 1980s as anyone would remember a horrible issue like paedophilia, but in terms of where the papers are now I honestly believe they've most likely been destroyed or there is a small chance they were lost.