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Westminster sexual abuse scandals

tim said:
Jess Philips on how nothing has changed at Westminster as with narrow gaps between parties by-elections are not desired by those in leadership positions.

At Westminster, those accused of abuse still walk among us | Jess Phillips
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'twas ever thus. This is what happens when people start to feel like they're beyond accountability. At best, they'll make a big show of disapproval, find a few token "bad apples" to chuck out, but never, ever address the systemic deficiencies that make this stuff happen in the first place, and stop it being reported/dealt with promptly when it does happen.
 
Green resigns
Damian Green resigns from cabinet
Damian Green, one of Theresa May's closest allies, has resigned from the cabinet after an investigation found he had breached the ministerial code.

He quit after he was found to have made "inaccurate and misleading" statements about what he knew about claims pornography had been found on a computer in his Commons office in 2008.

In his resignation letter, Mr Green apologised for his actions.

BBC's Laura Kuennsberg said the PM "had little choice but to ask him to go".

In her written response, Mrs May expressed "deep regret" at his departure.

Mr Green, who as first secretary of state was the PM's deputy, had been under investigation regarding allegations of inappropriate conduct.

He denied suggestions that he made unwanted advances to a female journalist, Kate Maltby, in 2015 and viewed pornography on a computer in his Commons office in 2008.
 
kabbes said:
Some heroic maths from the Guardian.

They took the average number of attempts between June and October, which was 160 per day. Then they seem to have multiplied this by 150ish days (presumably) to get to 24,000 (because multiplying 160 by 365 gets you to well over 50,000).

There is obviously a lot wrong with this methodology. Westminster is in recess a lot of the time between June and October, which will act to lower the figure. To be consistent with a time period that includes recess, you would need to multiply by the full year. But it will still be misrepresentative anyway, because the rest of the year still won't look much like June to October.

I suspect the true number is a lot, lot higher than 24,000.
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The metrics of mandarin masturbation
 
I am rather guilty of not keeping up with the inquiry but I did just notice this:

Child sex abuse inquiry to query whether Gove asked about investigation

The child sex abuse inquiry is to write to Michael Gove to ask whether he attempted to find out about the release of an investigation into a priest suspected of abuse at a prominent Catholic boarding school.

The alleged interest of the former secretary of state for education in a police and local authority inquiry into the priest surfaced during evidence given to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) last month.

Gove, now the environment secretary, denies making any phone calls to the local authority in relation to the investigation. A search of education department telephone records, his office has said, can find no trace of any such contacts.
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The priest, only identified by the reference number F65, is alleged to have had “connections to some quite senior figures”. In evidence given to the inquiry on 13 December, F65 was said to have been the subject of an allegation of oral sex with a 16-year-old boy.
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Towards the end of her evidence, counsel to the inquiry, Riel Karmy-Jones QC, indicated that Winter wanted to raise a further issue. The lawyer said: “There was significant interest from the office of the secretary of state in relation to one individual, F65, a priest who had previously resided at Downside Abbey. How did that come about?”

Winter then recounted the alleged sequence of events. “I only mentioned it because it was so unusual,” she explained. “I have never experienced it before or since. This was a priest who there were concerns about and it was agreed that the abbot would suspend him from ministry while investigations continued.

“He did have, I discovered subsequently, connections to some quite senior figures, and it was one afternoon I had I think it was two phone calls from the office of the minister of state for education asking for the time at which that decision was going to be made. I said, I knew what time it was, but I said it was a child protection matter and that I wasn’t willing to discuss it.

“Then very shortly before the time it was due to happen, I had a phone call from somebody who said they were the secretary of state for education and please would I tell them the time at which – he was quite insistent about the time that decision was due to be made.

“ ... I said exactly the same thing, that it was a child protection matter, it was in relation to a criminal matter, and I couldn’t give that information ... I had no further contact after that, but it just seemed very unusual for that to happen.”
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elbows said:
I am rather guilty of not keeping up with the inquiry but I did just notice this:

Child sex abuse inquiry to query whether Gove asked about investigation
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:hmm:

I know it's easy to be knee-jerk suspicious, but given the record of governments in spiking the guns of so many investigations into child sexual abuse, I can't help but wonder what's going on here. I don't think an allegation like this arises with nothing to prompt it, and the idea of a minister of education being quite so insistent about knowing about a child protection enquiry doesn't seem that far-fetched.

We'll never know, of course, but I hope that if this intervention happened, it didn't result in an otherwise valid investigation being derailed. But we know he's quite a noisy Christian, and not above using his faith in his office as Education Secretary (signed Bibles, anyone?), and he's resorted to the Christian-as-victim line before, eg in his Spectator interview (In defence of Christianity | The Spectator), so there's a distinct smell of rat about the whole thing.

Here's a little quote:
And that’s just for starters. If we’re Roman Catholic we’re accessories to child abuse
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Nothing you could hang him with, but something to make you go :hmm:
 
I'm keeping a fairly open mind on that. Though when it comes to Gove and this subject, I tend to have trouble forgetting his interview with Rhodes Boyson many years ago. Theres is some rather awkward innuendo in there at times, although my impression was no doubt affected by the fact Rhodes Boysons name was in some stories of abuse in the press some years back.

Have to fast-forward to about the 1 hour 39 mins mark to get to the Boyson stuff. So many other familiar political faces earlier in the video but who could endure the horror for long enough to sit through that much young Gove? Oh god Max Clifford is on there too, run away.



Pretty sure I posted this much earlier in the thread too, back when it was busy and people were ready to examine every aside and historical cultural artefact. But the years have flown by so I will repeat it. Its not supposed to be evidence of anything, I considered it a curiosity of the 'sign of those times' variety and some very limited insight into some of the people then and now.
 
killer b said:
I see John Woodcock has been suspended from the Labour party, accused of sexually harassing a member of his staff.
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The Guardian report on this:

Labour MP John Woodcock has been suspended from the party ahead of an investigation into claims he sent inappropriate text messages to a female former aide.

The backbencher, a fierce critic of Jeremy Corbyn, had been ordered to appear before party disciplinary chiefs over the alleged harassment, which he has denied in an open letter to constituents.

The Labour party’s disputes panel said last year that a fuller investigation would be needed, although they decided that he could remain as an MP until it was resolved.

But the new Labour general secretary, Jennie Formby, who has the power to intervene in cases in order to protect the party’s reputation, is understood to have ordered that he have the whip withdrawn until that has taken place.

A Labour party spokesperson said: “John Woodcock has been suspended from the Labour party pending due process. It would not be appropriate to comment further on an ongoing case."
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Whatever the merits of the case, it would be interesting to see whether this "fuller investigation" has taken place - the suggestion from all involved (including Woodcock in his statement) would suggest that between none and very little of it has up to this point. At this early stage that sounds very familiar with the investigation into Kelvin Hopkins (literally no action after his behaviour was first reported in 2015, and then very little visible action since he was suspended in November 2017 after the behaviour was reported again), to say nothing of the ones into O'Mara and Ivan Lewis.
 
*bump*

Carwyn Jones not exactly covering himself in glory here.

How the Carl Sargeant inquest put the spotlight on the murky world of politics

Last week I acted for Bernie, Jack and Lucy Sargeant, the family of former Welsh Government cabinet minister Carl Sargeant at the inquest into his death.

Carl committed suicide in November 2017 after he was sacked from his cabinet post as Secretary for Communities and Children. Allegations had been made against him, but he was never told what they were. The fact of his impending removal from government was leaked to the media before he knew.

The inquest concluded on Thursday 11 July, some seven and a half months after it started, having been listed for five days....
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