BBC & Margaret Thatcher Slammed in Leaked Report on Jimmy Savile

Little has changed at BBC

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has been criticized for her close
relationship with Jimmy Savile (L). © Reuters

A leaked report condemning the BBC over Jimmy Savile’s sexual abuse of minors has warned that another child predator could be present at the national broadcaster.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was among those who received criticism in the report for ignoring warnings about the celebrity from an honor committee and proposing him for knighthood in recognition of his charitable work.

Extracts from the leaked draft report compiled by retired judge Janet Smith were published on the website Exaro Wednesday.

The leaked inquiry found that Savile abused victims on “virtually every one of the BBC premises at which he worked.”

In the afterword of the report, Smith writes that she thinks “it is possible” that a predatory child abuser is lurking in the BBC today.

Her report outlines multiple rapes and assaults by Savile on children, all associated with the BBC.

Three of Savile’s victims were reportedly just nine years old.

Undoubtedly, there were many times that number of prepubescent children raped by Savile. He had thousands of victims that had nothing to do with the BBC.

The judge also concluded that the culture and attitudes at the BBC have not changed since Savile’s era, which could allow a similar abuser to exist in the organization today.

The report reveals how BBC staff were too afraid to report Savile, even if they were victims themselves, due to the BBC’s lack of action on complaints.

This practice remains the same today, with employees reluctant to report issues for fear of losing their jobs.

“Many people are now employed on short-term contracts or on a freelance basis, with little or no job security,” wrote Smith in her report.

Attitudes in the BBC towards “the talent” also led to a culture of never challenging abusers, as presenters like Savile were “more valuable than the values.”

When an underage girl complained to staff that Savile assaulted her on the set of the hit TV show Top of the Pops, she was ejected from the building.

A 17-year-old girl who complained to the BBC that Savile assaulted her on camera was brushed aside with the explanation that it was “just Jimmy fooling about.”

Smith has criticized the leak, claiming the report is out of date and changes have been made to a new, as-of-yet unpublished version.

BBC Director-General Tony Hall said in a statement that Smith’s report will help them understand a “dark chapter” for the BBC and prevent it from happening again.

He also criticized the leaking of the report and said “the responsible thing is to act on the final report”, which he said is due in six weeks.

Thatcher Blocked Plans to Strip Paedophile of Knighthood

And she approved two of Britain's worst paedophiles for knighthood

By CHRIS HASTINGS FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

Margaret Thatcher blocked plans to strip a paedophile diplomat of his knighthood, according to confidential Government papers published for the first time today.

Margaret Thatcher

The then Prime Minister allowed Sir Peter Hayman to keep his knighthood even though she knew he was a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) and had recently been convicted of gross indecency with another man in a public toilet.

Peter Haymen was a high level diplomat and may have been a "long-time deputy director of MI6", as well as High Commissioner to Canada.

Foreign Office files obtained by this newspaper under Freedom of Information laws show that Mrs Thatcher chose to warn Sir Peter – who died in 1992 – about his future conduct rather than strip him of the knighthood.

Apparently, gay sex in public toilets and pedophilia were acceptable behaviour in Maggie's economy. 

On July 11, 1984, Sir Robin Butler – her principal private secretary – told the Foreign Office: ‘I am writing to confirm that the Prime Minister agrees that Sir Peter Hayman should be warned that if there were any repetition of the offence for which he has recently been convicted and fined, there should be no alternative but that he should be stripped of his honours, but that no such recommendation should be put forward at the present time.’

Details of Mrs Thatcher’s intervention come just two months after The Mail on Sunday revealed that she approved a knighthood for the late Sir Cyril Smith – even though she knew police had investigated him over allegations of child sex abuse. 

And in 2013 it emerged that she had tried to secure a knighthood for the disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile, even though civil servants regarded him as a ‘strange personality’.

At the time of Sir Robin’s letter, Mrs Thatcher would have been aware of both Sir Peter’s recent conviction and his links to PIE.

Sir Peter Hayman and Lady Hayman at Uxmore House, their home in
Checkendon.  They posed for pictures at the front door, but refused to
answer questions concerning the child pornography case

In 1981 Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens had used parliamentary privilege to brand the retired diplomat a paedophile in the House of Commons. He was responding to the revelation that in 1978 the then retired Sir Peter, a father of two and former High Commissioner to Canada, had left paedophilia-related material on a bus.

The Foreign Office papers show there was strong support for stripping him of all of his honours – but suggest that Mrs Thatcher may have resisted because she wanted to avoid dragging the Queen into a scandal.

On June 27, 1984, Sir Antony Acland – the Permanent Under Secretary at the Foreign Office – told then Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe that the calls for action would be difficult to ignore. He said that those high up in the Order of St Michael and St George – an order of chivalry – felt that ‘officers of the Order should recommend that he be stripped, since to do nothing might offend Members of the Order, and possibly members of the public.

‘The Dean of St Paul’s also took the view, because of his anxiety to protect children, although Sir Peter was not convicted of any charge in this respect.’

But he warned that stripping Sir Peter of his honours could prove problematic. ‘The matter is further complicated since Sir Peter holds the CVO – the Queen’s personal order,’ Sir Antony said.

He added that if he were stripped of the knighthood, ‘he would have to lose the CVO and MBE also, so the Queen is to some extent already involved’.

In the papers, Sir Peter expresses shame for his actions and reveals he is being supported by his wife Rosemary and a psychiatrist.

On July 25, 1984, he wrote to a Whitehall official: ‘Let me repeat once again how bitterly ashamed I am for what I have done.’ He added: ‘Rosemary wants me to say how greatly she too appreciated all that you have said and all that you have done.’

Sir Antony last night declined to be drawn further on the correspondence.