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| Harvey Proctor, centre, leaving Bow St Magistrates Court in 1987 |
Detectives from the Metropolitan Police's Operation Midland are carrying out the search of his home, which is within the 16,000-acre grounds of Belvoir Castle, in Leicestershire near Grantham.
Mr Proctor, 68, works for the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, who live on the estate with their five children.
Operation Midland was launched by the Met last November following allegations that boys were sexually abused by a VIP paedophile ring centred around Westminster more than 30 years ago. Some of the parties are said to have taken place at the Dolphin Square apartment complex which is home to many MPs.
While Mr Proctor's house was being raided he phoned Radio 4's Today Programme to deny any wrong-doing.
The former MP said he had never attended "sex parties" and knew nothing about allegations that three young boys had been murdered by pedophiles with links to Westminster.
Mr Proctor said that, although he had been convicted of gross indecency in 1987, his crimes related to encounters which would not be illegal today.
He had been engaged in sexual relationships with boys he believed at the time were over 21, the age of consent at the time. The age of consent for homosexuals has since been lowered to 16.
Mr Proctor also said he was the victim of homophobia. Claiming he was caught up in a "Kafka-esque situation," he went on: "I have never attended sex parties at Dolphin Square or anywhere else.
"I have not been part of any rent boy ring with Cabinet ministers, other MPs or generals or the military. I conducted my private life in a discreet manner, it wasn’t I who outed myself, it was the press who did an assortment of things to out me.
"The police have said basically what you have just said, that they’re investigating historical sex abuse allegations going back to the 1970s and the 1980s. I may not have known of the detail of it but anyone would be blind if they hadn’t seen the press relating to these matters over the last year and I find myself in a very Kafka-esque fantasy situation."
Possibly, you've found yourself in a few too many 'fantasy' situations for your own good.
A Met Police spokesman said he "can confirm officers from Operation Midland are carrying out a search of an address in Grantham in connection with their inquiries".
The operation includes detectives from the child abuse investigation command and the homicide and major crime command.
Mr Proctor conceded that he had pleaded guilty to criminal offences in the 1980s after having a sexual encounter with a 19-year-old man who he had believed was 21 at the time.
"Of course there were offences committed, he went on. "I didn’t know at the time that I was committing those offences because the people concerned who were actually under 21 said to me they were over 21.
"I pleaded guilty to four charges of gross indecency in 1987 – those offences related entirely to the age of consent for homosexuality, that age has been reduced first to 18 and now to 16. The offences I committed in 1987 are no longer offences."
He stressed that he had been a very private person when he was an MP: "I was regarded in the House of Commons as a very independent MP and a loner. The last thing I would dream of doing was talking to other MPs or ministers or anybody else about my personal life. It wasn’t’ that I was ashamed of being a homosexual it was that I didn’t think it mattered a damn to the work I did on behalf of my constituents."
Mr Proctor said he believed some of the claims about abuse by Westminster figures were true, but that others were "pure and utter fantasy".
"I believe that the number of victims grows by the day, the number of alleged perpetrators through death diminishes. That is a problem, it is certainly a problem for me, I suppose my problem is that I’m still very much alive. I’m sure that some of the allegations are true but I’m also sure that a lot of the allegations are pure and utter fantasy.
Mr Proctor represented Basildon in Essex from 1979 to 1983 and Billericay, also in Essex, from 1983 to 1987.
He has also sat on the executive of the right-wing pressure group the Monday Club.
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