Thread by @MarkWatts_1

1. Day 14 of Westminster hearings at #CSAinquiry – my round-up in 25 tweets.

Closing submissions on behalf of core participants. And an outburst from a survivor of child sexual abuse who was denied a voice at the inquiry, leading to a correction from Harvey Proctor’s barrister.

2. Richard Scorer, representing seven survivors of child sexual abuse by “Sir” Cyril Smith, told #CSAinquiry that David Steel #LordTittleTattle “buried his head in the sand, as he continues to do” in “a complete abdication of responsible leadership”...

3. Richard Scorer urged #CSAinquiry to condemn in its investigation report – due early next year – an attempt by David Steel #LordTittleTattle “to renege on what he said to this inquiry” in media comments following his appearance at the hearing on Day 8...

4. “Anything less than [condemnation] would make a mockery of this inquiry, and indeed would give the green light to other politicians and senior leaders in society to ignore abuse should they be presented with clear evidence of it in the future,” Richard Scorer told #CSAinquiry.

5. “I have been asked by my clients to put on record their anger and disgust not only at Lord Steel's attitude, but at the failure of the Liberal Democrats to truly acknowledge the party's failings in this regard.” Richard Scorer to #CSAinquiry.

6. Richard Scorer told #CSAinquiry that the failure by the Met’s and IOPC’s corporate witnesses to acknowledge “overwhelming evidence” of a culture of deference within Scotland Yard towards prominent people was “a cause for concern”...

7. On the Met’s and IOPC’s corporate witnesses, Richard Scorer added to #CSAinquiry: “They also gave evidence which suggests that they may themselves, however unwittingly, be continuing to operate within a continuing culture of deference today.”

8. Jonathan Price, for Esther Baker @Esther9982, told #CSAinquiry: “The value of this strand of the inquiry to Ms Baker and other survivors is potentially very significant.”

Evidence “cropped up over and over again” that powerful people are treated differently over CSA allegs.

9. “These are not purely historical events.” Jonathan Price told #CSAinquiry, “In Ms Baker’s experience, the attitudes that prevailed then persist today. And the damage that was done certainly lives on in those many victims who have survived that era into adulthood.”

10. Adam Wagner, for Harvey Proctor, said that Geoffrey Robertson could not attend because of a “long-standing commitment”. But he approved this statement...

Wagner told #CSAinquiry that it must “clearly exonerate” his client. “You have a moral duty to say so.”

11. Adam Wagner repeated the call for #CSAinquiry to hold part 2 of the Westminster investigation in order to examine the Met’s ‘Operation Midland’...

12. Adam Wagner at #CSAinquiry attacked “senior politicians”, the Met and Exaro for “giving credence to malicious and false allegations” against Harvey Proctor and others.

He singled out four politicians for attack: Zac Goldsmith, John Mann, Simon Danczuk and Tom Watson.

13. Adam Wagner provoked an outburst from a female abuse survivor in public gallery by saying: “The Elm Guest House is equally fantastical. There was no VIP paedophile network at Westminster and, a fortiori, no cover-up of any such network.”

14. Female abuse survivor shouted out from public gallery to Adam Wagner at #CSAinquiry: “How do you know? How can you stand there and say that? I was there. And we have not been given a voice.”

The survivor was escorted out of the hearing room.

15. Later, following the lunch break, Adam Wagner had a correction to make...

“I said: ‘The Elm Guest House is equally fantastical,’ which I didn’t mean to say. What I meant to say was: ‘The Elm Guest House list is equally fantastical.’

16. Sam Stein, for Tim Hulbert, called on #CSAinquiry to recommend greater protection for whistleblowers.

He said: “Employment legislation does not currently provide whistleblowing employees with protection against retaliation, and what little it does provide is inadequate.”

17. Nicholas Griffin, for the Home Office, denied Tim Hulbert’s claim that HO had funded PIE in around 1978.

He said that Hulbert may be referring to funding via RWVS (then WVS) for a war-time “rural pie scheme”, and nothing to do with Paedophile Information Exchange.

18. Samantha Leek, for the Met, denied at #CSAinquiry that IOPC/Met had “whitewashed” alleged cover-ups re #VIPaedophiles.

Contrary to Adam Wagner’s claim re Harvey Proctor (tweet 10), she said that IOPC-managed investigations examined police conduct, not underlying allegations.

19. Lorna Skinner echoed this for IOPC at #CSAinquiry: “Almost all of those investigations concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support allegations of police misconduct. The IOPC fully appreciates the frustration that this will have caused to a number of people.”

20. Zoe Johnson, for the CPS, told #CSAinquiry that it was accepted that Victor Montagu and “Sir” Peter Hayman would be prosecuted today on same evidence, for which they were merely cautioned.

But it would be “unsafe”, she said, to condemn these decisions as taken at the time.

21. “One aspect which clearly does raise alarm bells is the evidence that Sir David Napley went to see the DPP about [“Sir” Peter] Hayman’s mental health,” Zoe Johnson told #CSAinquiry.

“Clearly, such a meeting is to be decried.”

22. Counsel to #CSAinquiry closed by complaining of a leak to “one journalist” who published material before the hearings began. “During the course of the inquiry, there were yet further breaches of confidence which led to the same journalist publishing yet more information.”

23. Adam Wagner complained of separate confidential matters that “appeared to have been leaked to a journalist – the same journalist, we think, that Mr Altman was referring to – who tweeted about them.”

24. Neither a distinctly nervy counsel to #CSAinquiry, Brian Altman, nor Adam Wagner named the journalist who dared to publish all this confidential material.

But in tweet 25, I provide 10 clues…

25. 10 clues:

1 foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…
2 foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…
3 foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…
4 foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…
5 foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…
6 foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…
7 foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…
8 foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…
9 foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…
10 foiacentre.com/news-CSA-inqui…