Theresa May admits knowing about concerns over Britain’s child sex abuse inquiry but did not act
Prime Minister said ministers could not have intervened in the troubled investigation on the basis of 'suspicion, rumour or hearsay'
THERESA MAY was accused of a “cover up” last night after she was forced to admit she knew of concerns about the doomed Child Abuse Inquiry boss but did nothing as Home Secretary.
The PM conceded she was aware of “stories around” the disaster-prone Kiwi Dame Goddard long before the boss of the troubled probe quit under a cloud of racism allegations in August.
But Mrs May, who set up the scandal-struck inquiry as Home Secretary, insisted she could not have intervened simply on the basis of “suspicion, rumour or hearsay”.
Pressed in the Commons about what she knew and when, the PM finally confessed: “There were stories around about the inquiry and about individuals related to the inquiry.”
Her comments came after the Home Affairs Committee was told on Tuesday that a member of the inquiry panel had privately raised concerns when Mrs May was still Home Secretary.
However Mrs May told MPs: “That conversation was asked to be confidential and it was, as far as I am aware, treated as such.”
But No 10 later said the PM knew of “tensions” between Dame Goddard and her panel “some weeks” before an official complaint was made at end of July.
New Zealand high court judge Dame Lowell Goddard resigned as inquiry boss a week later.
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The PM’s spokeswoman declined to say what action the Home Office took, but stressed it was for the independent inquiry to deal with.
Last night Labour MP Lisa Nandy hit out saying “This feels like a cover up, making it imperative that the PM and Home Secretary are now completely open about precisely what they knew so that survivors can regain confidence in this crucial inquiry.”
The Wigan MP added: “Now that Theresa May has admitted she knew of failings in the abuse inquiry whilst she was in charge of it she must explain why she took no action other than to allow a generous £80,000 pay off to the judge at the centre of these serious allegations.”
“The new Home Secretary Amber Rudd must also explain why she told MPs as recently as September that “all the information” she had was that Dame Lowell-Goddard resigned because she was homesick.”
