Child Abuse: Waterhouse Inquiry

Lord Lloyd of Berwick Excerpts

Wednesday 14th November 2012 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Lloyd of Berwick]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Statement repeated by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 6 November (HL Deb, col. 893), whether they will reconsider their appointment of a “senior independent figure” to investigate whether “the Waterhouse Inquiry was properly constituted and did its job”.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

No, my Lords. Mrs Justice Macur’s review will proceed with the terms of reference laid before this House last Thursday.

[Lord Lloyd of Berwick]

My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that in view of Mr Steve Messham’s withdrawal of any allegation against Lord McNally—

[Noble Lords]

Oh!

[Lord Lloyd of Berwick]

I had better start that question again. Does the noble Lord, Lord McNally, agree that in view of Mr Steve Messham’s withdrawal of any allegation against Lord McAlpine, there is no longer any need for another High Court judge to go over the work of Sir Ronald Waterhouse 15 years ago? On the contrary, we should all be grateful for his impeccable conduct of that inquiry and the thoroughness of his report. Will the Minister tell the House what, if any, inquiries the Prime Minister made about Mr Messham’s credibility before announcing another inquiry into the same matters on 5 November?

[Lord McNally]

My Lords, I sincerely hope that that well known twitterer on the Front Bench opposite has not put my name on to this. I can understand where the noble and learned Lord is coming from. When we ask a senior judge to carry out an inquiry and they do so with the thoroughness with which the Waterhouse inquiry was carried out, there is a certain duty to respect the integrity of that work. I hope that the noble and learned Lord will also accept that the situation that we faced was not just that of a single individual coming forward but of a large amount of accusations being bandied around and a great deal of public concern. The Macur review terms of reference have been more widely drawn. Mrs Justice Macur will look at whether any specific allegations of child abuse within the terms of reference of the Waterhouse inquiry were not investigated. Quite frankly, the strength of public feeling justifies us going through with the Macur review.