DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A step nearer justice for Midland victims

Of all the disgraceful episodes in the recent history of the Metropolitan Police, the inquiry into allegations of a VIP sex abuse ring codenamed Operation Midland ranks among the darkest.

Based on the grotesque and obvious lies of Carl Beech, aka ‘Nick’, Scotland Yard treated elderly men with exemplary records of public service, including the late Field Marshal Lord Bramall, like common criminals – ruining their lives.

Despite this scandal, no senior officer has been held to account. Until now.

The head of this catastrophically inept investigation Steve Rodhouse is to face disciplinary proceedings. The Independent Office for Police Conduct says he has a ‘case to answer’ for failing to investigate two fantasists who reinforced Beech’s lies.

The ex-deputy assistant commissioner also allegedly lied in public when Midland, which squandered £2.5million of taxpayers’ money, collapsed.

The head of this catastrophically inept investigation Steve Rodhouse (pictured) is to face disciplinary proceedings

The suspicion must be that the pair were let off to spare the Met further embarrassment. If so, this was an appalling derogation of duty.

Yet Mr Rodhouse is currently sitting pretty in his lavishly paid job at the National Crime Agency. If found guilty of gross misconduct, however, he faces the sack.

This development has plunged Britain’s biggest force, already reeling from a string of scandals, into yet another crisis.

But it is also vindication of the free Press. For eight years, the Mail has battled for justice for the victims of this travesty. That day is a step nearer. Mr Rodhouse is the first officer to face a reckoning over this scandal. He must not be the last.

Unite or be conquered

One building block of our democracy is that nobody is above the law. If evidence emerges that a person has committed a crime, they should be investigated.

Even so, everything about the decision to inform police and MPs probing Partygate that Boris Johnson might have broken more lockdown rules at No10 and Chequers screams malevolence.

The ex-PM denies wrong-doing. And the fact is, there can’t be another politician whose actions during the pandemic have been picked over more forensically.

Scotland Yard, Sue Gray, Parliament’s privileges committee… all have carried out meticulous inquiries into his conduct.

Boris Johnson denies wrong-doing. And the fact is, there can’t be another politician whose actions during the pandemic have been picked over more forensically

Is it really conceivable that not one of them inspected the ministerial diaries that recorded these supposedly illegal visits?

So why have fresh allegations surfaced now? It’s clear that, terrified of him making a comeback, his foes want to destroy him politically. Little wonder one supporter fumed: ‘This is the biggest stitch-up since the Bayeux Tapestry.’

It’s no secret civil servants have been trying to topple Tories whose politics they despise. But it’s deeply dispiriting that ministers and backbenchers are also stirring up trouble for Boris and Home Secretary Suella Braverman, whose migration policies they loathe.

The Tories are hanging on to power by their fingertips – and if there is one thing voters hate, it’s a divided party that can’t stop fighting with each other.

Unless they soon rediscover a sense of unity, the Conservatives will be swept away on a wave of contempt at the next election.

The border farce

If even Sir Keir Starmer, the chief cheerleader for open borders, feels confident enough to goad the Government over its appalling record on migration, the Tories really are in deep trouble.

With Home Office data to show nearly a million migrants coming here in the year to March, it’s easy to see why a new poll shows Labour is more trusted on immigration.

For 13 years, voters have demanded curbs to migration. For 13 years, the Tories have failed to take decisive action. If they can’t control our borders, what’s the point of them?

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