Simon Danczuk: I was warned not to challenge Leon Brittan over paedophile dossier

Simon Danczuk: I was warned not to challenge Leon Brittan over paedophile dossier

The campaigning MP claims a Conservative minister told him not to name Leon Brittan in a parliamentary committee and suggested he could be responsible for his death if he did

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk was confronted by a Conservative minister who advised him that it wouldnt be a wise move to challenge Lord Brittan Photo: ZENPIX

By Georgia Graham, Political Correspondent 06 Jul 2014

A campaigning MP was warned not to challenge Lord Brittan, the former Home Secretary, about what he knew about an alleged Westminster paedophile ring and was told he could be responsible for the Conservative peer’s death.

Simon Danczuk said a Conservative minister stepped in to warn him not to name Lord Brittan in a Parliamentary committee last week.

Mr Danczuk said that members of the Home Affairs select committee received similar phone calls ahead of his appearance on Tuesday.

Mr Danczuk decided to name Lord Brittan despite the warning. Speaking to the committee he questioned what had happened to a “bundle” of papers detailing an alleged Westminster paedophile ring that was passed to Lord Brittan when he was Home Secretary.

Lord Brittan has since said he passed the 40 page-dossier of papers on to Home Office officials to investigate.

An internal review of hundreds of files last year found 13 previously undisclosed “items of information" about alleged child abuse – including four implicating Home Office officials.

Mark Sedwill, who has been appointed by David Cameron to investigate claims of a Whitehall cover-up of political paedophiles, revealed that 114 potentially relevant files were “presumed destroyed, missing or not found".

An independent legal figure, expected to be a promised QC, is to be appointed to conduct a review of the Home Office’s handling of the case.

However Michael Gove ruled out a full public inquiry into the case.

Mr Danczuk described the warning that came after a vote in the House of Commons on Monday night when a Conservative minister “stepped out of the shadows” to confront him.

He said: “I’d never spoken to him before my life but he blocked my way and ushered me to one side.

“He warned me to think very carefully about what I was going to say the next day before the Home Affairs Select Committee when I’d be answering questions on child abuse.

“’I hear you’re about to challenge Lord Brittan about when he knew about child sex abuse,’ he said. ‘It wouldn’t be a wise move', he advised me. 'It was all put to bed a long time ago.’ He warned me I could even be responsible for his death.

“We looked at each other in silence for a second. I knew straight away he wasn’t telling me this out of concern or the man’s welfare. There was no compassion in his voice.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he added: “As politicians made their way out of Westminster, I had no doubt that other conversations like this were taking place.

“Indeed this was confirmed when I spoke to other members of the Select Committee the next day. They’d been paid similar visits. Phone calls had been made.”