Rochdale 'Institutionally Blind' to Sex Crimes?

asks Simon Danczuk M.P. 

'I began to wonder,' writes Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk in today's Daily Mail, 'if years of child abuse being covered up in Rochdale had normalised this crime,' and he asks:  'Had the constituency become institututionally blind?'

In an exclusive serialising of the forthcoming book 'Smile For The Camera' by Simon Danczuk and Matthew Baker, to be published by Biteback on April 15th, £16.99, the Daily Mail today has devoted a leading article, five pages inside, and an editorial.  The Mail story reports:  'For four decades, the depraved 29st politician (Cyril Smith) was free to prey on vulnerable children as young as eight.' 

 

In an editorial entitled 'A moral scandal that shames liberal elite', the Daily Mail comments:  'TODAY the Mail begins serialising a profoundly disturbing book that should shake the conscience of Britain's liberal elite, while raising questions of huge topical relevance about moral corruption at the heart of politics and the State.'

 

This is of ongoing important today, because as Mr. Danczuk writes in his book:

'In May 2012, nine men were jailed for horrific abuse committed against teenage girls in the town (of Rochdale).'

 

We must wait to see what new comes out of the revelations in the book, but at present Mr. Danczuk and the Daily Mail are putting more flesh on the bone.  Most important will be how the cover-up of Smith's crimes was manipulated for so long, and why he was so successfully.  What part did MI5 play in hiding the evidence, and did Jack McCann, the Rochdale Labour MP in the 1960s, and friend of Cyril Smith, help him deal with the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)?  Was the Home Secretary contacted by Jack McCann?

 

These are all questions that are of interest to Northern Voices, which was in the forefront of putting this story into the public domain in the Autumn of 2012.