Spot The Cabinet Minister.

Which one is the Cabinet Minister ?

OK, I know that readers of The Needle are well informed and I’m sure you all spotted it was Danny Alexander [first person second row], the current Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

However, if you took that image to a primary school and asked a group of eleven year olds the same question, does anyone believe that any one of them would have singled him out ?

This is not a frivilous question, I’ve seen much written by many commentators bemoaning the fact that it appears that only television celebrities are being identified in historic child abuse investigations and not powerful politicians.

The conclusion that many then leap to is that this is indicative of an establishment cover-up but not one person has pointed out that there could not have been one young girl or boy in the country who could have failed to recognise Jimmy Savile during the 1970s and 1980s or forgotten that they had met him, so ubiquitous was he on children’s television, and how unrecognisable and instantly forgettable politicians are to children.

Here in lies a big problem for the police now engaged in investigations into historic child abuse which implicate politicians. It may have been difficult for anyone to forget having met Cyril Smith, given his physical appearance, but for most children the majority of politicians are grey men indistinguishable from anyone else. Throw in extremely difficult and stressful circumstances, perhaps even drugs and/or alcohol, and the passage of time, and one can start to see how problematic it can be.

That does not mean that there has not been a cover-up. I’m as confident as I can be that there has been one but in the case of the Elm Guest House, for example, I believe that the cover-up to have taken place in the 1980s. It is my earnest belief that Operation Fernbridge has no intention of covering anything up. I expect that they are as frustrated as anyone, more so even, at the apparent paucity of substantiating evidence, the lost files, and destroyed documents.

Given the high profile of those alleged to have been involved and the inevitable public backlash if there were to be even a whiff of a cover-up, I believe that those who are part of the Operation Fernbridge investigation will be at pains to demonstrate that they have run down every lead and turned over every stone.

But they must also be aware by now that regardless of however meticulous they are and however conscientious they are they will never be able to satisfy everyone.

As Exaro News clearly stated in a trilogy of tweets yesterday, which I reproduced, contrary to any rumour that has been circulating there is no indication that Operation Fernbridge is to be closed down but eventually at some point in the future perhaps in a year or so’s time that investigation will come to a close. When that happens Fernbridge will publish  a report. It is unthinkable that that report would not be made public with the understandable redaction of witnesses’ personal details. At that time, we will all be able to judge if there has been a cover-up and when and who is responsible for it. I’m confident it will be clear to most that Operation Fernbridge will not be responsible.

But if that does not prove to be the case then be assured I’ll point it out.