The Police Must Continue Their Investigations

Tom Watson writes:

My condolences go to the family and friends of Lord Brittan. They are grieving for someone they loved very much.

I don’t want to add to their grief, but what I am about to say will distress them greatly. For that I am truly sorry.

Many have urged me over the past two years to reveal allegations against Brittan using parliamentary privilege.

This allows MPs to say things that are not subject to libel laws. Some will ask why I’ve waited until his death to speak out.

The reason is simple. I didn’t want to prejudice any jury trial he might one day face.

Newspapers and broadcasters were aware of the serious allegations made against him. However, they chose not to publish or air them.

Today, Brittan’s supporters took to broadcast media to completely dismiss the “innuendo”.

John Selwyn Gummer aka Lord Deben denounced MPs for their “wickedness” in spreading rumours about Brittan’s life.

Their comments were a cold dismissal of those who believe it’s a travesty that Brittan will never be asked the truth. To answer questions about his conduct under oath at a public inquiry.

It’s possible to spend a lot of time with a person yet know nothing of their true nature.

I don’t doubt the sincerity of John Selwyn Gummer or Kenneth Clarke. And I never spoke to Leon Brittan. So I can’t talk of him personally.

However, I have spoken to those who claimed he abused them. So these allegations have come to me first-hand, not through insinuation or innuendo.

I’ve spoken to a woman who said he raped her in 1967. And I’ve spoken to a man who was a child when he says Brittan raped him. And I know of two others who have made similar claims of abuse.

To these people, the establishment has closed rank and slammed down the shutters. They talk of their “devastation”.

Today, one survivor said to me that Brittan “showed me no kindness or warmth.”That Brittan was “as close to evil as a human being could get in my view”.

This survivor said that Brittan and the others “took my childhood, they took the very essence of who I was and finally he’s taken away my right to see justice done.”

It is not for me to judge whether the claims made against Brittan are true.

It’s for the police to investigate these claims as they continue to do. But I believe the people I’ve spoken to are sincere.

All the glowing tributes reminded me of the media coverage immediately after Jimmy Savile’s death. How those journalists who wrote tributes to Savile must regret them now.

Savile was protected by a media culture that worshipped at the altar of celebrity. Was Brittan protected by a misplaced sense of deference to the powerful?

The easy course of action for me would be to remain silent. Yet those survivors need someone speaking up for them. Be in no doubt how unpleasant their side of the story is.

I sometimes wish I’d never taken the first step into investigating unsolved cases of child abuse.

Hearing the painful memories of survivors is harrowing for anyone.

Then there’s having to deal with the righteous anger of those who have been ignored and dismissed by the authorities over many years.

But once you’re in, you’re in.

You can’t listen to a two-hour testimony of an abuse survivor and walk away when the going gets tough.

And any snorts of derision aimed at me from media commentators are nothing compared with the ruined lives of abuse victims.

Former Home Secretary Leon Brittan stands accused of multiple child rape.

Many others knew of these allegations and chose to remain silent. I will not.

The police must continue their investigations.