Taking Liberties
The Daily Mail is refusing to back down in the row over the role played by senior Labour figures in the NCCL in the 1970s and 80s when the civil liberties organisation was involved with the paedophile group, PIE.
What I don't understand is why it has taken Harriet Harman so long to say that allowing PIE to affiliate to the NCCL was a big mistake, albeit one from a different political era, and with the benefit of hindsight that the NCCL should clearly have thrown PIE out on its ear.
It seems ridiculous now that the arguments being advanced by PIE were taken in any way seriously by the NCCL at the time or that PIE was allowed to remain a member, but no one is being accused of personal failure or bad behaviour - simply that many years ago the UK's civil liberties champion seems to have taken leave of its senses.
And I suspect that most reasonable people, not just Daily Mail readers, will agree with that point - given all that we know now.
Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman expresses 'regret' over links to paedophile lobby – but STILL won’t apologise
- Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman offers 'regret' but no full apology
- Mounting pressure to explain link to Paedophile Information Exchange
- Came while holding key roles in the National Council for Civil Liberties
- Miss Harman said revelations were ‘politically-motivated smear campaign’
- An aide said this morning: 'She regrets the existence of PIE and of course she regrets any organisations' involvement with them including the NCCL'
By MICHAEL SEAMARK and GUY ADAMS and MARTIN ROBINSON - Daily Mail
Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman has today expressed 'regret' but refused to give an unreserved apology after six days of uncomfortable questions over her links with a paedophile group.
Miss Harman, her MP husband Jack Dromey and former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt have been under mounting pressure to explain the connections to the Paedophile Information Exchange while holding key roles in the National Council for Civil Liberties.
The pressure group granted ‘affiliate’ status to PIE, a notorious group of predatory paedophiles.
Last night Miss Harman dismissed the revelations as a ‘politically-motivated smear campaign’ and offered no apology over the NCCL’s extraordinary relationship with the PIE.
But this morning an aide said: 'She regrets the existence of PIE and of course she regrets any organisations' involvement with them including the NCCL'.
Scandal: After six days of questions over her links to a paedophile group, Labour's Harriet Harman has finally expressed regret but not a full apology
But trying to distance herself from the scandal the spokesman added: 'She does not regret joining the NCCL. By the time she arrived, (PIE) were very much under the radar.'
Her lack of a full apology came despite the fact that Shami Chakrabarti, current director of Liberty – the new name for NCCL – has previously issued an apology for the links with PIE.
In a statement Miss Harman said yesterday: ‘They have accused me of being an apologist for child sex abuse, of supporting a vile paedophile organisation, of having a relaxed attitude to paedophilia and of watering down child pornography laws.
‘These are horrific allegations and I strongly deny all of them.’
Despite her partial climbdown today her spokesman added: 'She stands by the statement from yesterday and she is certainly not going to apologise to the Daily Mail.'
The Mail discovered that during the 1970s and 80s, the NCCL described PIE – granted formal ‘affiliate’ status from 1975 to the mid-Eighties – in glowing terms as ‘a campaigning/counselling group for adults attracted to children’.
NCCL archives showed how the pressure group lobbied Parliament for the age of sexual consent to be cut to ten if the child consented and ‘understood the nature of the act’. It also called for incest to be legalised in what one MP called a ‘Lolita’s charter’.
The NCCL – now the respected Liberty – filed a submission to Parliament claiming that ‘childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in, with an adult, result in no identifiable damage’. Miss Harman, as NCCL legal officer, tried to water down child pornography laws. NCCL lawyers acted for PIE members who were questioned by police over their disgusting behaviour.
Silence: Until now Miss Harman has said only that the Mail's story is 'untrue and ridiculous' but has refused to answer any questions, as have her husband, Jack Dromey (pictured), and their Labour colleague Patricia Hewitt
Miss Hewitt was general secretary of the NCCL from 1974-83, Miss Harman was a newly qualified solicitor when she became its legal officer in 1978 until 1982, when she entered Parliament. Mr Dromey sat on the NCCL executive committee from 1970 to 1979.
Police are investigating PIE as part of Operation Fernbridge, launched after the Jimmy Savile affair, with one source saying there is evidence that PIE members were abusing children ‘on an industrial scale’.
Former health secretary Patricia Hewitt was general secretary of the NCCL from 1974-83
The Home Office is also carrying out a ‘thorough, independent investigation’ into shocking claims that the Labour government of the 1970s may have helped finance the notorious group.
Ever since December, when The Mail first investigated the NCCL’s links to the paedophile lobby, we have been sending detailed questions to Miss Harman, Miss Hewitt and Mr Dromey about their links to PIE and whether they now regret supporting such a group.
Miss Hewitt has still to respond but Miss Harman – after initially dismissing the story as ‘untrue and ridiculous’ – and her husband finally issued a statement via the Labour Party yesterday.
Miss Harman denied allegations that she supported lowering the age of consent to ten or opposed the law on incest – despite the Mail investigation never having made such a claim. Instead this newspaper stated that the NCCL, which she joined in 1978, had controversially lobbied on these issues two years earlier.
Miss Harman also denied having opposed the law on incest – again, an allegation the Mail did not make. This was, nevertheless, the NCCL’s position when she became its legal officer.
Miss Harman also said that an allegation that she sought in 1978 to water down a proposed ban on child pornography was untrue – although her name is on the NCCL’s four-page submission to MPs urging that ‘images of naked children should only be considered pornographic if it could be proven that the subject had suffered’.
Harriet Harman talks to BBC's Newsnight about Paedophile storm
Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman has today expressed 'regret' but refused to give an unreserved apology after six days of uncomfortable questions over her links with a paedophile group.
Miss Harman, her MP husband Jack Dromey and former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt have been under mounting pressure to explain the connections to the Paedophile Information Exchange while holding key roles in the National Council for Civil Liberties.
The pressure group granted ‘affiliate’ status to PIE, a notorious group of predatory paedophiles.
Last night Miss Harman dismissed the revelations as a ‘politically-motivated smear campaign’ and offered no apology over the NCCL’s extraordinary relationship with the PIE.
But this morning an aide said: 'She regrets the existence of PIE and of course she regrets any organisations' involvement with them including the NCCL'.
Scandal: After six days of questions over her links to a paedophile group, Labour's Harriet Harman has finally expressed regret but not a full apology
But trying to distance herself from the scandal the spokesman added: 'She does not regret joining the NCCL. By the time she arrived, (PIE) were very much under the radar.'
Her lack of a full apology came despite the fact that Shami Chakrabarti, current director of Liberty – the new name for NCCL – has previously issued an apology for the links with PIE.
In a statement Miss Harman said yesterday: ‘They have accused me of being an apologist for child sex abuse, of supporting a vile paedophile organisation, of having a relaxed attitude to paedophilia and of watering down child pornography laws.
‘These are horrific allegations and I strongly deny all of them.’
Despite her partial climbdown today her spokesman added: 'She stands by the statement from yesterday and she is certainly not going to apologise to the Daily Mail.'
The Mail discovered that during the 1970s and 80s, the NCCL described PIE – granted formal ‘affiliate’ status from 1975 to the mid-Eighties – in glowing terms as ‘a campaigning/counselling group for adults attracted to children’.
NCCL archives showed how the pressure group lobbied Parliament for the age of sexual consent to be cut to ten if the child consented and ‘understood the nature of the act’. It also called for incest to be legalised in what one MP called a ‘Lolita’s charter’.
The NCCL – now the respected Liberty – filed a submission to Parliament claiming that ‘childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in, with an adult, result in no identifiable damage’. Miss Harman, as NCCL legal officer, tried to water down child pornography laws. NCCL lawyers acted for PIE members who were questioned by police over their disgusting behaviour.
Silence: Until now Miss Harman has said only that the Mail's story is 'untrue and ridiculous' but has refused to answer any questions, as have her husband, Jack Dromey (pictured), and their Labour colleague Patricia Hewitt
Miss Hewitt was general secretary of the NCCL from 1974-83, Miss Harman was a newly qualified solicitor when she became its legal officer in 1978 until 1982, when she entered Parliament. Mr Dromey sat on the NCCL executive committee from 1970 to 1979.
Police are investigating PIE as part of Operation Fernbridge, launched after the Jimmy Savile affair, with one source saying there is evidence that PIE members were abusing children ‘on an industrial scale’.
Former health secretary Patricia Hewitt was general secretary of the NCCL from 1974-83
The Home Office is also carrying out a ‘thorough, independent investigation’ into shocking claims that the Labour government of the 1970s may have helped finance the notorious group.
Ever since December, when The Mail first investigated the NCCL’s links to the paedophile lobby, we have been sending detailed questions to Miss Harman, Miss Hewitt and Mr Dromey about their links to PIE and whether they now regret supporting such a group.
Miss Hewitt has still to respond but Miss Harman – after initially dismissing the story as ‘untrue and ridiculous’ – and her husband finally issued a statement via the Labour Party yesterday.
Miss Harman denied allegations that she supported lowering the age of consent to ten or opposed the law on incest – despite the Mail investigation never having made such a claim. Instead this newspaper stated that the NCCL, which she joined in 1978, had controversially lobbied on these issues two years earlier.
Miss Harman also denied having opposed the law on incest – again, an allegation the Mail did not make. This was, nevertheless, the NCCL’s position when she became its legal officer.
Miss Harman also said that an allegation that she sought in 1978 to water down a proposed ban on child pornography was untrue – although her name is on the NCCL’s four-page submission to MPs urging that ‘images of naked children should only be considered pornographic if it could be proven that the subject had suffered’.
Harriet Harman talks to BBC's Newsnight about Paedophile storm
Watch full Newsnight interview on BBC iPlayer
1978 briefing: The NCCL legal officer Harriet Harman wrote this briefing paper on the Protection of Children Bill, which sought to ban child pornography. She argued that it would lead to an 'increase in censorship'
Argument: The second page contains a paragraph saying that a picture should not be considered indecent if the model was not harmed
Recommendations: Miss Harman's briefing went on that the NCCL would argue that the Bill to protect children should be amended
Signed: The Labour Deputy Leader's name is carried at the bottom of the briefing, which argued that a pornographic picture of a naked child should not be considered indecent unless it could be proven that the subject had suffered
Responding to the NCCL’s decision to grant ‘affiliate’ status to the notorious paedophile group, Miss Harman said: ‘The Mail have tried to make me guilty by way of guilt by association. When I was at NCCL there were around 6,000 members and nearly 1,000 affiliated organisations of which PIE was one. I was aware that because NCCL opposed censorship and supported gay rights, paedophiles had sought to exploit that and use NCCL as a vehicle to make their arguments.
‘But by the time I came to work for NCCL this vile organisation had already been vigorously challenged within the organisation.’
She added: ‘The reason I decided to go to work for NCCL was because I actively supported the work they had done and in particular the work of their women’s rights committee on the Equal Pay Act, on the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act and for greater protection of victims of domestic violence and against race discrimination.’
Last night Miss Harman gave an interview to Newsnight on BBC2 but still repeatedly failed to apologise.
She refused eight times to accept that the connection with PIE was a mistake.
Mr Dromey said: ‘During my time on the NCCL executive, I was at the forefront of repeated public condemnations of PIE and their despicable views.
‘The accusations of the Daily Mail are untrue and beneath contempt.’ Labour leader Ed Miliband defended his deputy: ‘Harriet Harman is somebody of huge decency and integrity. I know she has a long and proud record of being on the right side of all of these issues.’
Last night the Mail said: ‘For ten weeks now the Mail has repeatedly asked three leading Labour figures to answer questions about the involvement of the NCCL, a body in which they played leading roles, with a vile paedophile group whose actions are currently being investigated by the police.
‘The belated statements today of Miss Harman and her husband – full of pedantry and obfuscation – fail to answer the Mail’s central points and deny allegations the Mail has not made.
‘More pertinently they have failed to utter a word of contrition or sorrow about the NCCL’s closeness to the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange, an organisation that validated the activities of a monster like Jimmy Savile. Nor do they utter a word of apology to the victims of PIE.
‘In stark contrast, Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, which took over the NCCL’s mantle, has condemned the historic links with PIE as a “source of continuing disgust and horror”. As for smears, it is a newspaper’s job to ask awkward and controversial questions – questions that in this instance are still awaiting a satisfactory answer.’
