Roots of Theresa May's Flawed Character

by Brian Bamford

THERESA May has been recently attacked for being 'weak and wobbly' despite her claim to be a 'safe and stable' pair of hands.  The most recent signs of her weakness being this weekend's departure of her closest advisers Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.after criticisms from senor MPs.

Another sign of her enfeebled state according to today's Financial Times is 'her weakness, [by her leaving] her most senior ministers in their jobs rather than risk making new enemies, amid speculation she might face a leadership challenge later this year.'

Philip Hammond, the chancellor, in whom she was clearly unhappy with over the forced reversal of his 'white van tax' after the budget, Boris Johnson, the current foreign secretary, Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, and David Davis, the Brexit secretary, are all still in place.

This flaw in her character can be traced back to when she was Home Secretary in July 2014, when following publication of the now disgraced Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk's book 'Smile for the Camera' in April 2014.  On Monday the 28th, April 2014, the then leader of Rochdale Council, Colin Lambert extended its enquiry into child sex abuse.  Following this Theresa May was stampeded into setting up what was to become an overarching enquiry for which she appointed Baroness Butler-Sloss as its first chair in July 2014, more were to follow, and by December 2014 it was reported that Theresa May was reconsidering arrangements for the enquiry.

Most of us who trouble ourselves about this matter have by now lost count of the seemingly endless chops and changes with what became of this overarching enquiry into child sex abuse. 
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The first two chairs appointed to the original panel enquiry were Baroness Butler-Sloss (appointed 8 July 2014, stepped down 14 July 2014) and Fiona Woolf (appointed 5 September 2014, stepped down 31 October 2014).   The reasons for their withdrawal in each case were objections related to their perceived closeness to individuals and establishments which would be investigated.  There were also objections to the shape of the enquiry itself, concerning testimony, the scope of enquiry, and lack of ability to compel witnesses to testify.  In December 2014 it was reported that Theresa May was reconsidering arrangements for the enquiry.

As long ago as  Monday 7 July 2014, The Independent reported:
'An expert panel will also have the power to scrutinise the behaviour of political parties, the security services and private companies amid allegations that paedophile networks operated with impunity in the 1970s and 1980s.'

At the time The Independent reported:
'A "Hillsborough-style" investigation into historic child sex abuse claims will take place.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the wide-ranging review would look into how authorities dealt with allegations paedophiles abused children.  She said the independent inquiry, which is likely to take years, could become a full public inquiry if needed.'

The same newspaper bravely reported:
'The panel will report on its interim findings ahead of the general election next May in a move to reassure critics that its findings are not being kicked into the long grass.'

This whole inquiry, which was devised by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary, now looks like the House that Jack Built,   All of this was triggered by a book 'Smile for the Camera' which some now regard as less decent than ordinary bullshit, written by a man who is now generally recognised as the squalid former Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk, 

An Unwieldy Public Inquiry

Theresa May Bounced Into Folly of Overarching Probe

by Brian Bamford

IN April 2014, I received a message on my mobile phone from the journalist Peter Hinchcliffe from ROCHDALE ONLINE tipping me of about a press conference at Rochdale Town Hall called by Colin Lambert the then Labour leader of Rochdale Council.  At that conference Councillor Lambert changed the terms of reference of an inquiry he had previously set-up to investigate historic child abuse in Rochdale at Knowl View residential school up in Bamford village.  Following the publication in March that year, of a book by the local Labour MP Simon Danczuk, entitled 'Smile For The Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith', claiming to expose child abuse in Rochdale and beyond, Councillor Lambert then felt he had to respond and at that press conference he was supported by the then Greater Manchester Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy.

But if Colin Lambert felt under pressure at that time to act on child abuse in Rochdale, the then Home Secretary Theresa May similarly responded by setting-up a national public inquiry on historic child abuse which ultimately swallowed-up the new Rochdale investigation led by Neil Garnham QC .  So began the creation of a monstrous over-arching national inquiry with 'eyes bigger than its belly' fanned to fever-pitch by ambitious politicians like the MP, Simon Danczuk, and  an assortment of hungry journalists.

The ultimate result of this all consuming national investigation has been institutional indigestion and administrative flatulence. This is obvious to most observers, though writers on this Northern Voices' Blog have been giving warnings about this for months on end.

Last Saturday, an editorial in the Financial Times (FT) announced:

'Confidence in the inquiry is so low that some alleged victims claim it it was set up to fail.'

We on Northern Voices, together with John Walker the former editor of the 'Rochdale Alternative Paper' (which had outed Cyril Smith in May 1979), in the Autumn of 2011 supplied much of the evidence of child abuse at Cambridge House that triggered this whole issue, and was used by Simon Danczuk and his aide Matthew Baker in the production of their book*. 

The FT editor last Saturday wrote:

'For a public inquiry to merit the time and money required, it must have something concrete about which to inquire.  It must be able to obtain evidence on which it can reasonably get at the facts.  And it must have a remit that it can plausibly complete within a reasonable period of time.'

The 'Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse', set up by Theresa May, did not meet these requirements.  It is too unwieldy and extensive,  It will have to depend on remembered testimony from people with ageing memories. 

The now Prime Minister, Theresa May as Home Secretary, probably acted with the best of intentions when under pressure of the Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith revelations, she set up the inquiry two years ago.  In the end the inquiry now involves probes into 13 public bodies, and is expected to accomplish in a few years what the police couldn't do over decades.  It also aims to do a forensic study into how children can best be protected in future.

Perhaps, in the light of all this, we should not be surprised given all this that its development has been painfully slow or that the casualties and fall-out of chairs and other legal representatives have left the child abuse inquiry looking like a farce.

The first chair of the child abuse inquiry, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, resigned amid questions about the role of her brother who had served as attorney-general during the 1980s.  The second chair was driven out following a barrage of criticism about her “establishment links”.  The third resigned, and the forth, an experienced social worker, is already under attack.

Last weekend the editor of the FT points to what might be the root of the problem:

'This shows the folly of allowing those who are party to an inquiry to drive the process.  There is a difference between heeding their views and surrendering to the loudest voices...'

It seems that it is vital to get the right terms of reference for these kind of inquiries.  While the inquiry into the Bloody Sunday massacre in Northern Ireland took 12 years it only had to cover the events of one day, and it took 12 years to complete.  This current Historic Child Abuse Inquiry is so open-ended it is likely to surpass that, and in two-years it has already cost £20 million and it hasn't heard one hour of testimony yet. 
* Smile for the Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith Hardcover – 16 Apr 2014 by Simon Danczuk  (Author) and Matthew Baker (author)› 
Neil Garnham QC

Danczuk, Littlejohn & 'Waiting for Goddard'!

 The cost of endless public inquires

IT has been estimated that the coming overarching inquiry into historic child sexual abuse presided over by Judge Lowell Goddard from New Zealand, will last for between five and eight years having cost perhaps £120 million.  By the time it reports many of the victims may well be dead. 

Yet, none of this discourages campaigning and ambitious politicians like Tom Watson or Simon Danczuk.  In some ways their behaviour delayed the start of the inquiries, by forcing first Baroness Butler-Sloss and later Fiona Woolf to stand down as presiding judges.

One victim from Lancashire who suffered at the hands of Cyril Smith told me that he had been approached by a local media outlet to try to get him to complain about the appointment of Baroness Butler-Sloss, but that when he had failed to play the role of 'Mr. Angry' the journalist lost interest.

Today, the journalist Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail writes:

'More than a month has past since it was revealed that detectives had failed to find a shred of evidence to suggest that there was a VIP paedophile and murder ring operating in the Seventies and Eighties....  Nothing credible has been unearthed to support any of these allegations.  So why on earth is this public inquiry continuing – especially as several of its potential “star” witnesses have been exposed as fantasists?'

Simon Danczuk and Matthew Baker are now claiming that they were sceptical about one of the recently exposed romancers Mr. Fay claims about Elm Guest House. 

Meanwhile, Richard Littlejohn claims 'the lurid allegations [paedo rings and murder] have been at the centre of an outrageous attempt by Nonce Finder General Tom Watson to smear leading Conservatives, notably Leon Brittan, as child molesters and worse.' 

But now we know that there has been a major Scotland Yard VIP murder investigation without any proof that anyone has been murdered. 

And yet, as Littlejohn says the 'Labour M.P., Simon Danczuk, accused Brittan, during his time as Home Secretary, of covering up a secret dossier that would have proved the existence of a child abuse conspiracy at Westminster.'

Littlejohn continues:

'Danczuk's claims, added to the hysteria which surrounded Jimmy Savile, prompted the Government to set up a full-scale public inquiry into historical sex abuse in high places.  (Yet) [s]ince then, the case against Brittan has collapsed in spectacular style.'

Clearly Richard Littlejohn believes the Home Secretary Theresa May was bounced into setting up the current costly Goddard Inquiry by the tub-thumping of Simon Danczuk and Tom Watson, when he writes:

'This is the public inquiry into “historic” child sex abuse in high places, which the Home Secretary ordered when the Paedos In High Places panic was in full Corporal Jones mode.'

That was after Simon Danczuk MP and his aide Matthew Baker had published their piece of flowery flannel documented in a book entitled 'Smile for the Camera'.  In a review in Northern Voices No.15, Les May describes the book as 'a series of assertions and opinions by the authors'.  Mr. May writes: 

'There's gossip, second and third hand stories originating in bars; supposedly verbatim accounts of conversations which took place thirty years ago; accounts which we are led to believe are the authentic voices of men who had unpleasant encounters with Cyril yet which have a strange sameness about them; few definite dates; a garbled chronology; the same story apparently told more than once; misquotation of documents; a seeming absence of proper methodology; and no indication of how many abused men they interviewed.'

Despite this lonely criticism from people in Rochdale who have for years closely followed the case of Cyril Smith and Simon Danczuk, and published comments in the small regional publication Northern Voices, Danczuk has gone on to win the Contrarian award and plaudits nationally for his impact on public debate mostly owing to the book that was mainly written by Baker. 

Butler-Sloss Jumps Before She's Pushed

THE BBC reported today:  'Most public bodies at least claim they appoint people because of what they know, not who they know. But it was Lady Butler-Sloss's family and political connections - not her experience and knowledge - which led to her resignation.'

Who now then?   Who now to probe into child sex abuse?

Yesterday, the Home Secretary Theresa May said she did not regret appointing the peer, adding that she would 'not hang around' in naming her successor.

But who?

There must not be another botched job.

Afterall, Ann Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was the first female Lord Justice of Appeal and until 2004, was the highest-ranking female judge in the United Kingdom.

Who will be her successor? Mrs May has said she still favoured appointing a single individual to head the over-arching inquiry rather than a panel of experts urged by Labour and some abuse victims.

An American judge has been mooted by some.  But would they have the necessary nous or street-wise grasp to understand our English ways?

What about the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon?   Best known as the superjudge who ordered the arrest of General Pinochet, this crusading legal head of WikiLeaks has been approached by the NSA whistleblower to represent him.

Already there are calls for a figure less linked to the establishment to be appointed - but if a legal background, along with the security clearance to read confidential government papers is required, then that could be easier said than done it seems.