Behind A Protective Screen

Prospero and Ariel? The BBC should have commissioned new statues of Grant and Phil Mitchell, or of Mr Humphries and Mrs Slocombe. Indeed, at the centre of a montage of EastEnders and Are You Being Served? might have been a representation of Wendy Richard. One trusts, however, that she would have been depicted fully clothed. As would Ross Kemp, Steve McFadden, John Inman and Mollie Sugden.

But was Eric Gill a Pakistani? For that matter, was Jimmy Savile, or Rolf Harris, or Chris Denning? Is Stuart Hall? There were and are Pakistani grooming gangs. But they were and are far from the only ones, and far from the most powerful. Boris Johnson was a pupil at a private school when Paedophile Action for Liberation, which later merged into the Paedophile Information Exchange, said without challenge that it could shut down both the private school system and the youth criminal justice system by calling its members out on strike. As Prime Minister, Johnson described the money spent on investigating Medomsley Detention Centre as having been "spaffed up the wall".  Clearly, he could not see the problem. He had been groomed.

Of the same generation is Keir Starmer, late of Reigate Grammar School, the Sunday Times Independent School of the Year 2025. Yes, it was private when Starmer was there. He went on to be the Director of Public Prosecutions when the decision was made not to prosecute Savile. In the words of Doughty Street Chambers, on its page about Starmer, now amusingly removed from public view: "He was Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service from 2008-2013. As DPP, Keir was responsible for all criminal prosecutions in England and Wales." Therefore, Starmer would have been responsible for the decision not to charge Savile even if he had never set eyes on the file. But that is in any case inconceivable. We are talking about Jimmy Savile here. That Starmer took the decision not to charge Savile has been repeated all over the place, far beyond parliamentary privilege. Starmer has yet to sue anyone for having made it. Again, he could not see the problem. Again, he had been groomed.