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Cyril Smith rumours were known to Liberal party
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| Contributor | New Jerusalem |
| Last Edited | New Jerusalem Nov 30, 2012 12:09pm |
| Category | Scandal |
| News Date | Nov 30, 2012 12:00pm |
| Description | The former Liberal party leader Lord Steel heard rumours that Cyril Smith used to deliver punishment beatings to boys, but the party did not investigate the stories before Smith became MP for Rochdale in 1972.
Steel said a lack of substantive complaints meant the party leadership did not look into the stories about Smith's involvement in corporal punishment, which was understood to have taken place when he was a councillor in Rochdale.
The admission that the party heard about Smith's behaviour will add to widening scrutiny of institutional responses to allegations of abuse against the MP who died in 2010. This week Greater Manchester police acknowledged that "young boys were victims of physical and sexual abuse committed by Smith". Three files of evidence were passed to prosecutors but no charges were brought. The first 80-page file on Smith compiled in 1970 contained allegations from eight men that they were abused as teenagers by Smith on the pretexts of either a medical examination or punishment for misbehaviour.
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