Webchat with Tom Watson MP, Thursday 4 September, 1-2pm

[VikkiMumsnet]

Labour MP Tom Watson is joining us at MNHQ for a webchat nextThursday 4 September, from1-2pm, to talk about the developing situation concerning allegations of child sexual abuse, especially those relating to people in positions of power in Westminster and beyond.

Tom is Labour MP for West Bromwich East and, earlier this year, he launched a petition calling on the Prime Minister to establish a national enquiry into allegations of organised child sex abuse, after it emerged that Home Office files – relating to allegations which may have involved senior Westminster and Whitehall figures in the 1970s and 1980s – had gone missing.

Unfortunately, parliamentary privilege does not extend to Mumsnet webchats - so please don't post allegations about named or identifiable individuals; we may have to delete posts that do. And please remember our usual webchat guidelines:

1. One question per member plus a follow-up question if appropriate, i.e. once you've had a response.
2. Keep your question brief
3. Don't be disappointed if your specific question doesn't get answered and do try not to keep posting "What about me?".
4. Do be civil/polite.

I'd have thought the opposite, Lumpy. At least there are boundaries to each area if one becomes corrupt, plus the parallel police forces can investigate each other. That's not foolproof, but the alternative is worse.

I forgot to ask the question! Which is, do you agree?

I note in the news this morning that there are further arrests of Asians in Buckingham.

Whilst it is entirely right that abusers everywhere are brought to book, the whole approach is beginning to look selective.

Clearly there are a whole heap of paedophile rings in this country and not a lot done about them. There are reports lurking on the net of a paedophile ring in very high places.

Shouldn't we be arresting others, and equally publicly?

Hello Tom and thank you for your tenacious approach.
I follow your twitter account, do you feel that social media power has been a helpful tool for pursuing large scale cover ups and injustices? And also in helping make the general public to be better informed and up to date with developments.

All the very best to you.

I would like to ask if there will be someone that has experienced sexual abuse on the panel of the inquiry? I feel it is extremely important.

I really hope that those guilty will be prosecuted.

Not much more to say, but thanks for doing what you have. This needs to be tackled, not swept away under the carpet.

Hi Tom,

Thanks so much for coming to MN.

You seem to like taking on big entities, ie Murdoch and the establishment. As the digital world takes hold, what do you think the emerging threats are?

Hi Tom,

I'd be interested to know what you think about Labour's chances in the General Election next year - do you really think victory is a possibility with Ed Miliband as leader?

Thanks for coming on.

Can you explain to me what you think the long term benefit of an enquiry would be?

Seems to be we love an enquiry in this country. We even have enquiries about enquiries. They take forever, cost a fortune but do they ever really change anything?

In the short term when results are published there is a flurry of publicity and outrage. Changes are promised, the old 'lessons will be learned' line is trotted out.

Sorry, but I'm just not connived enquiries ever achieve anything.

There are some great questions here!
Scandip I think the "working group" has requested a survivor to be on the panel, but it has gone very quiet. Personally I think there should be at least two.

I can't think of a question right now, but I am posting to register my interest in this, I think it is extremely important.

Tom, I'm so grateful for all your work on phone hacking and the over-cosy relationships between some media and politicians.

And now you're speaking truth to power again over CSA.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this.

My question would be, what can we do to help?

Whistling, thanks for replying. That is promising. Yes, you are right, there should be at least two.

It is important Kate. Hopefully this webchat can draw more attention to the scale of this.

Someone upthread queried why people are not shouting from the rooftops about this. I quite agree.

Tom, thank you for coming to MN.

There is lots of talk on the internet of people who are immune from prosecution for CSA because of their connections or their positions of power. Will the enquiry look at why politicians and people in power seem immune? Do they have friends who are even better connected?

Hi Tom
Thanks for making time to come on MN. I'm sure many many more people will be reading this than posting questions.

Well done for campaigning for a full inquiry into this horrendous historical child abuse. I just hope it will have full power to investigate wherever it is taken, however powerful and influential the accused. I think the key will be the mix of people on the panel. There are a number of people behind the scenes who are working flat out on this (currently unpaid, retired etc) who I think would be ideal on the panel - they are full of integrity, are more than capable of joining the dots, and are credible to the public so it is not seen as yet another cover up. People like Peter McKelvie, Clive Driscoll, Dr Liz Davies, "murun" the bloke behind the spotlight on abuse blogspot. What can be done to ensure people like this are involved at that level?

As an outsider, it it very frustrating to watch. It is almost 2 years since you first raised it in that PMQ and even though the police have had hundreds of people come forward with specific allegations there have been very few high profile arrests. Are you confident that the police team will see this through? They seem massively understaffed for such a huge investigation. What can be done to increase numbers working on the case? Will the police be able to arrest suspects if information comes out in the inquiry?

Sorry more than 1 question. There may be a few more in a bit.

Very pleased to say that Tom is in the building so we'll be away in a min.

Wow. @mumsnet towers really is in a tower. Firstly a BIG thank you to the good people at mumsnet for inviting me into this web chat. And thank you to you for caring enough to take an interest in what is an awful topic to discuss. Organised child abuse is a very serious problem which our country has denied for too long. Also - I really appreciate the kind comments about the work I and my team are doing. I've brought Barbara and Karie with me today - they carry a heavy load and they're really excited about being here!

Hello Tom,

Someone else may have asked this up there ^^, but what can we as members of the public most helpfully and productively do (and not do) to help ensure that perpetrators of child sexual abuse, especially when in positions of power, are brought to justice?

Thanks for coming onto Mumsnet.

I know this is not the place to namenames, but as far as I understand there is good evidence incriminating a previous home secretary and a deceased prime minister. How confident are you that the police will fully investigate this?

These people were the very law makers of our land, and should not be protected from criminal investigation. I am so angry. I can't believe that isn't on the front page of every newspaper every day. Why do you think the mainstream media are hardly touching it? Are they scared of another McAlpine moment?

I am particularly disappointed with the Guardian, who instead of covering unfolding Elm Guest House saga, are publishing guest articles by convicted paedophiles.

@Whitershadeofpale

Really pleased that this is happening. Along with everyone else I'd like to thank Tom for his amazing and unrelentless work on this.

My question is

Who do you think should chair the inquiry and do you think, as I do, that a full Hillsborough style enquiry is the best chance of uncovering the truth?

The most important criteria for chairing the panel is that the person selected is accepted by the many survivors. They also have to be competent in the field of analysing masses and masses of information in an objective but caring and thoughtful manner. They need to be confident to challenge and sufficiently knowledgable about children, child abuse and the systems we have in place to report in ways that will deliver real protection for children especially those away from the care of their parents and family. It will be as important for those around the Chair, that is the other members of the panel and the civil servants who support the inquiry, to be of the highest quality. The panel as a whole has to listen to survivors and not fall into the trap of defending our current approaches to abuses. this may mean an inquiry that is more akin to Hillsborough than others

Hi Tom! Hope they're treating you well.

@LumpySpacedPrincess

I've already asked a question so this is just pondering.

Surely a national police force would help, it would certainly leave less room to hide and cover up for your mates or because a senior officer tells you to.

Good question! I want to see a national police team assembled out of child protection specialists from around the country. The PM and Home Secretary agreed to the national inquiry but there are many cases of historic abuse where the perpetrators have evaded justice.

The team at the Met police are doing a good job but they simply do not have enough resources and they need to work much more closely with other policing areas.

I would say that a national police team is the number one issue for the government to address now - it's as important as the public inquiry.

Q - Yvetter Cooper recently indicated Labour support for Mandatory Reporting but as yet we have no details. If MR happens in schools and institutions, is Labour also considering proposals to ensure that the statutory bodies - Local Authorities and Police in particular, pursue complaints to completion and can somehow be held to accopunt if they fail to do so? TY

Hello Tom -

Like many others, I appreciate the work you're doing very much indeed.

I am currently wondering whether to start a research project in this area (I won't bore you with the details but will probably be harassing you for a chat if it goes ahead!).

What is holding me back is the fact that, when I was previously in academia, I was never convinced that the work done there made any real difference. To go back to that world, I need to feel that what I would be researching would be of some practical help.

So, my question is - what, if anything, do you think academics should be looking at that would have a positive impact with regards to child abuse? Are there any particular areas of social science research which you feel are lacking?

Many thanks.

@scallopsrgreat

Hi Tom, thanks for coming. It is appreciated.

The focus on Rotherham appears to centred around race when it is known that there are plenty of groups of white men grooming children and systematically performing sexual violence on them. Why do you think that few people are having the discussion about the fact that the overwhelming majority of perpetrators are male, in the case of Rotherham and pretty much all other sexual violence cases? Do you think an inquiry might actually name this as a problem?

Those that keep data on the abuse of children are quite clear that the vast majority of abuse against children is perpetrated by men. This leaves me, as a man both very sad but also makes it all the more important for men to be involved in learning about children, talking with children and understanding them more. We do not want a society where children are afraid to talk to men or fear them. Fathers are important to children and as a proud dad, I say this from the heart.

Do you think there should be a nation wide campaign on safeguarding? To me too much emphasis is put on the roles of teachers and professionals and less on the role of everyone within a community to keep it's children safe from harm.

I just wanted to say thank you.