Thread by @MarkWatts_1

1. Day 6 of Westminster hearings at #CSAinquiry – my round-up in 20 tweets.

“We are all guilty.” Emotional testimony from Labour official over “cover-up” for Tory MP “Sir” Peter Morrison.

MI5 and Maggie T knew, too.

MI5: we would call the police in same position in future.

2. Frances Mowatt, party agent for Peter Morrison: “He was a very popular member of Parliament.”

Political opponents viewed him as “aloof”, “arrogant” and a drunkard. And a paedophile.

But Frances did not see any of that. On his sexual/private life: “I didn’t hear any rumours.”

3. In response to the claim by Frances Mowatt at #CSAinquiry that she never even heard any rumours about Peter Morrison, Grahame Nicholls, an official in the local Labour party in Chester, said: “I find that absolutely incredible.”

4. A local Labour meeting in Chester was told that Peter Morrison would stand down at the 1992 election after being caught by police sexually abusing 15-year-old boy, Grahame Nicholls told #CSAinquiry...

5. “An agreement had been reached with the Conservative Association that Peter Morrison would stand down and the police would not take the matter any further…

“The local newspapers were aware of this arrangement.”

Grahame Nicholls, Labour official in Chester, to #CSAinquiry.

6. Grahame Nicholls, Labour official in Chester, talking about cover-up by local politicians and activists for Peter Morrison, told #CSAinquiry: “Politics itself can be very dirty.”

#PeterMorrison #CaughtInTheLooAtCrewe #NoChange

7. Grahame Nicholls at #CSAinquiry on agreement between opposing politicians, police and Press to keep quiet about Peter Morrison: “It was what I would call a Chester cover-up… Nobody was going to break ranks.”

#PeterMorrison #ChesterCoverUp

8. Christine Russell, then Labour party agent in Chester, later MP for the city, told Westminster hearings of #CSAinquiry that rumours about Peter Morrison were “widespread”.

She added: “Not only the political community, I would say throughout Chester.”

9. Christine Russell told #CSAinquiry the rumours about Peter Morrison were credible: “The allegations were coming from police officers, from Conservative councillors.”

When asked what they were doing about it, she said that their response to her was: “He’s being protected.”

10. Jane Lee, Chester-based officer of nearby Labour party branch, told #CSAinquiry that local reporter revealed in pub after branch meeting that Peter Morrison would be all over paper next day after being caught sexually abusing 15-year-old in toilets of Crewe railway station.

11. Local reporter later explained why story about Peter Morrison and 15-year-old boy did not run. “The chief constable of Cheshire got a phone call from the prime minister’s office… and had been persuaded to not press charges but to give a warning… You can’t report warnings.”

12. Jane Lee at #CSAinquiry: I told Ian Lucas, branch chairman and later MP for Wrexham, that I wanted to “do something” about Peter Morrison.

What she claims Lucas told her is really chilling...

He denies in a statement to inquiry what Lee says he said…

13. Jane Lee claimed to #CSAinquiry that Ian Lucas told her why they could do nothing about Peter Morrison: “Ian said, ‘I have rung somebody higher up, and they’ve told us, “We just don’t do that,” and these were the words he used, ‘For every one they have got, we have got one.’”

14. Becoming upset in witness box at #CSAinquiry, Jane Lee said: “I was so shocked… It was the fact that he was saying… every paedophile they have got, we have got one.

“So it was so shattering, because, at that moment, I knew that my party was in the same position.”

15. Jane Lee again cited Ian Lucas to #CSAinquiry: “‘There is an unwritten rule: we don’t tell on them, they don’t tell on us.’

“That was the tumbleweed moment.

“That was just-

“The conversation stopped right there. I didn’t ask another thing. He didn’t say another thing.”

16. Jane Lee: “Really, I’m as guilty as everybody else. I knew about this, and I didn’t tell anybody. It is a crime.”

She went to the police in 2014, and thought that they might arrest her.

But she was disappointed. She was not arrested, and they just did not seem interested.

17. Jane Lee at #CSAinquiry on a cover-up over Peter Morrison: “We are all guilty, everyone who kept quiet. It’s just terrible.”

The quote of the day at #CSAinquiry.

“We are all guilty.”

18. We heard from anonymous MI5 witness, with a ‘Johny English’ accent. He told #CSAinquiry what MI5 files revealed about paedophile allegations against MPs/VIPs.

Sensational, but already revealed @FOIACentre: foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…

He was completely overshadowed by Jane Lee.

19. Catch up @FOIACentre... two articles from yesterday on MI5 #PaedoFiles…

1. MI5 hands over secret ‘paedophile files’ on VIPs: foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…

2. Key passages from MI5’s ‘paedophile files’ on VIPs: foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…

20. Due tomorrow at #CSAinquiry, more on Peter Morrison.... former MI5 boss, Baroness Manningham-Buller, an ex-cabinet secretary, Lord Armstrong, and Morrison’s successor as Chester MP, Gyles Brandreth. But I revealed all that @FOIACentre earlier in month: foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…