Re: Growing scandal over paedophile group and government

**bb1** Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:30 am

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2573358/Why-did-No10-cover-aides-child-porn-arrest-Downing-Street-confirmed-details-pressed-Mail-sex-allegations-against-PMs-friend-emerge.html

Why did No10 cover up aide's child porn arrest? Downing Street only confirmed details when pressed by Mail as further sex allegations against PM's friend emerge
Patrick Rock resigned and was arrested nearly three weeks ago
But No10 only confirmed it after being questioned by the Mail on Monday
It also emerged that he was accused of sexual harassment by a colleague
Officials face quiz as to why Rock was allowed to resign before his arrest
And there are questions over silence as Labour MPs faced pressure over PIE
By JAMES CHAPMAN
PUBLISHED: 00:13, 5 March 2014 | UPDATED: 00:29, 5 March 2014

Downing Street was last night facing allegations of a cover-up over the child porn arrest of one of David Cameron’s oldest friends.
Patrick Rock, 62, deputy director of the No 10 policy unit, resigned and was arrested almost three weeks ago.
But Downing Street said nothing, only choosing to confirm his arrest and departure after being questioned on Monday by the Daily Mail.
Not even senior ministers had been informed.
Officials yesterday confirmed Mr Rock had also previously been the subject of a formal sexual harassment complaint understood to involve a high-flying woman civil servant.
She moved out of No 10 to another department after the case had been examined by Mr Cameron’s chief of staff Ed Llewellyn.
Yesterday, Labour insisted it was extraordinary that a senior figure could resign in such circumstances without any public announcement.
No 10 faced also awkward questions about why Mr Rock was confronted with the child pornography allegations and allowed to quietly resign hours before the police were called in.
Incredibly, outside Mr Cameron’s close circle, only Home Secretary Theresa May was informed of Mr Rock’s resignation.
On a dramatic day in the affair:
David Cameron said he had been ‘profoundly shocked’ by the charges against Mr Rock, who he has been close to for decades;
Mr Rock was said to have been ‘top of the list’ in the next tranche of Conservative nominations for the House of Lords;

It emerged he had been at an election manifesto meeting with Theresa May and Chris Grayling very shortly before his arrest;
Senior officials at the shadowy National Crime Agency – Britain’s answer to the FBI – still refused even to confirm or deny the arrest as a row raged about why it had been kept under wraps

Downing Street was first made aware of a potential offence on February 12, when the matter was apparently brought to Mr Cameron’s attention.
Mr Rock – who has been closely involved in drawing up Government policy on internet porn filters – resigned later that day and was reported to the National Crime Agency. He was arrested at his home in West London in the early hours of February 13.
Police were also invited into Downing Street to examine IT systems and the office used by Mr Rock.

Asked why it had taken so long for No 10 to come clean about the resignation of such a senior aide, Mr Cameron said: ‘First of all, I have to be careful what I say about this issue because there is a criminal investigation underway.
'Obviously when I heard these allegations I was profoundly shocked and I remain profoundly shocked.
‘In terms of the release of this information, I do not think it would be right to pre-emptively speak about a criminal investigation and that is why we did not do that.
'As questions were asked and as questions will inevitably be asked, we have given very full and straightforward answers, which is absolutely the right way to handle this situation.
‘I’ve been clear right along, when I was first told about this issue – pretty much as soon as it was discovered – that we must handle this in absolutely the correct way.
'I am satisfied that this is what No 10 has done. He did play an important role at Downing Street.’

A senior Labour source said Mr Rock’s departure was ‘clearly in the public interest’ and questions were being asked about ‘whether Downing Street sat on this information in order to exploit what was happening with Harriet Harman’.
Miss Harman has faced controversy in recent weeks over links between a civil liberties organisation she used to work for and a paedophile group.

Tom Watson, a senior Labour MP who is calling for a public inquiry into child abuse allegations, said: ‘I fully understand No 10 has a duty of care to a former staff member who hasn’t yet been charged. People expect answers to their legitimate questions though.
'Did Mr Rock go through developed vetting [for security clearance]? Why did he appear to have advance notice of police involvement? Mr Cameron cannot put his head in the sand and hope this goes away.’
Mr Rock has yet to comment on the allegations against him, and has not been charged with any offence.
A Downing Street source said: ‘Any decision to proactively announce the arrest is clearly a matter for the National Crime Agency.
'It would have been completely inappropriate for us to have ignored the police and made such an announcement, not least because it might have jeopardised the investigation.’
Mr Cameron and Mr Rock worked together as special advisers to Michael Howard in his time as home secretary in the mid-1990s. Mr Rock later worked for Lord Patten during his time as a European commissioner in Brussels. The Prime Minister brought him back into government in 2011.
In the policy unit, Mr Rock helped broker a deal with internet firms which means millions of households are being asked if they want family friendly filters to screen out porn from their computers.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2573358/Why-did-No10-cover-aides-child-porn-arrest-Downing-Street-confirmed-details-pressed-Mail-sex-allegations-against-PMs-friend-emerge.html#ixzz2v4ildZcK
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**bb1** Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:34 am

No one wants to live in a country where the police arrest people in the middle of the night and then try to keep it a secret. That way lies totalitarianism.
The covert nature of this arrest was in stark contrast to the high-profile treatment meted out to ageing celebrities by the Jimmy Savile Squad and middle-ranking newspaper executives caught up in the phone-hacking scandal.
Where were the TV cameras, the high-profile ‘perp walk’ and off-the-record briefings when Mr Rock had his collar felt? Where were the dozens of detectives emerging from Number 10 carrying bin-liners full of computer equipment?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2573442/Do-really-want-live-country-No-10-aides-arrested-secret.html#ixzz2v4jbrYB1
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Quite.

**lily** Wed Mar 05, 2014 4:29 pm

Sigh...

**Sabot** Wed Mar 05, 2014 5:59 pm

He couldn't have had this stuff because of his work with filters, could he?..........No?

Okay, I'll get me coat.

**lily** Wed Mar 05, 2014 6:05 pm

That's a good excuse, Sabot. rofl

**bb1** Wed Mar 05, 2014 6:08 pm

Or doing 'research'?

**Sabot** Wed Mar 05, 2014 6:14 pm

lily wrote:That's a good excuse, Sabot.

That's wot I thought, Lily.

**Sabot** Wed Mar 05, 2014 6:15 pm

bb1 wrote:Or doing 'research'?

Well, exactement. How can he block it if he doesn't know what it is?

**bb1** Sat Mar 08, 2014 10:39 pm

**lily** Sat Mar 08, 2014 10:47 pm

WTH?

**bb1** Sat Mar 08, 2014 10:50 pm

Lily, I shudder to think.

**lily** Sat Mar 08, 2014 10:54 pm

I think I better not say what's on my mind until I have read the article.

**bb1** Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:34 pm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2576451/High-court-judge-child-sex-ring-Adviser-Queen-founder-paedophile-support-group-offenders-jail.html

God Almighty.

**lily** Sun Mar 09, 2014 4:02 pm

I'll raise you one, Bonny. Do you think HM would be happy about that? mad

**bb1** Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:02 pm

Growing scandal over paedophile group and government - Page 2 Bizlok1ceaeyaxo-1-329x437

What a cesspit.

**lily** Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:19 pm

Wouldn't it be better if we could get rid of everyone and start over again with people of good moral fiber?

What a horrible world it is.....

**bb1** Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:23 pm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577468/Former-deputy-speaker-Nigel-Evans-used-influence-Westminster-sexually-assault-young-men.html

The allegators did report all this to other people at the time, it doesn't seem to be a He said - he said.

I cannot recall a time when Westminster was so mired in squalor, sleaze and corruption.

**lily** Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:43 pm

Repugnant bunch of ******* Will it get worse? Eek

**bb1** Wed Mar 12, 2014 3:05 pm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10692247/Nigel-Farage-employs-both-his-wife-and-mistress-at-public-expense.html

Nigel Farage 'employs both his wife and mistress at public expense'
Ukip leader pays his wife and lover out of EU parliamentary expenses, claims former colleague

Farage has a MISTRESS? Shocked

Oh well, at least that's normal....

**lily** Wed Mar 12, 2014 3:57 pm

On the public purse though?

**bb1** Wed Mar 12, 2014 4:02 pm

Well, that's fairly traditional, too.... rofl

**lily** Wed Mar 12, 2014 5:07 pm

What isn't? rofl

ETA: Oh yes.....call girls?

**bb1** Wed Mar 12, 2014 5:19 pm

It'll make a change to have a normal scandal involving beer, women and money.

**lily** Wed Mar 12, 2014 5:36 pm

The good old days? Profumo, Jeremy Thorpe etc. rofl

**bb1** Wed Mar 12, 2014 5:41 pm

Not in Thorpe's case....

Justice for Rinka! biggrin

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