Westminster paedophile ring: Police 'hid MP's rape of boy, 14'

Former British PM Margaret Thatcher. Photo / AP

One of Margaret Thatcher's closest confidantes raped a teenage boy 30 years ago but escaped justice when Scotland Yard covered up the crime, it has been alleged.

Police are investigating claims that Sir Peter Morrison lured the 14-year-old to London and sexually abused him in a guesthouse reportedly used by a Westminster paedophile ring.

A former Conservative minister, Morrison was first exposed as a serial child abuser in 1998, three years after he died from a heart attack. But the MP for Chester was never charged with any crime during his lifetime.

The alleged victim, now aged 46, said he and his family reported Morrison to Scotland Yard in 1982, hours after he escaped the MP's clutches.

Yet after he gave a statement and was examined by doctors, the family say they heard nothing for months.

Finally, the boy's father says he was informed by Scotland Yard that the abuser had been sent to prison for assaulting his son, and that no further action was needed.

However it was only years later, the family claim, that they discovered the culprit's true identity. They then discovered Morrison had never been jailed for any crime, and that police had apparently duped them into dropping the allegation.

The man, now a married businessman, is the first of Morrison's alleged victims to speak publicly. His story is backed up by his parents and is being investigated in Operation Fairbank, set up by the Met two years ago to probe suggestions that high-profile political figures had been involved in organised child sex abuse.

He is now preparing to take legal action against the force, who he claims "hushed the whole thing up".

Morrison was Thatcher's trusted parliamentary private secretary and deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. In 1990, he led Thatcher's disastrous leadership campaign team.