Scotland Yard stands accused of orchestrating an astonishing 14 cover-ups of VIP child sex abuse.

Over 35 years, officers are said to have protected ‘untouchable’ figures by shutting down inquiries that reached the heart of government.

The 14 alleged paedophilia cover-ups were referred to watchdogs by the Metropolitan Police Service itself yesterday. It threatens to be the biggest investigation into police corruption since the 1970s.

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Investigation: The Metropolitan Police is being probed over allegations of high-level corruption

Hailed as a ‘momentous milestone’ by one MP, the probe could lead to five former Met chiefs being interviewed. But campaigners are angry that the Met will remain in charge of the investigation.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission insists it will closely monitor their work. The watchdog said the inquiries were ‘closely linked and well under way’ and it made no sense to start again.

The complex web of allegations was uncovered by detectives probing claims of historical sex abuse first raised by Labour MP Tom Watson in October 2012.

Those on the inquiry, known as Operation Fairbank, are understood to have raised concerns after studying files kept in storage. They have also been faced with horrifying allegations from child victims that their complaints were ignored or covered up. The claims include one that police deliberately stalled their inquiries into the Elm Guest House, in Barnes, south-west London, leaving dozens of boys to be abused.

Victims claim that high-profile politicians, diplomats and civil servants visited the property to abuse boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

Officers are also accused of releasing paedophile MP Cyril Smith without charge after he was caught in an undercover operation at a sex party involving teenage boys.

Police are also accused of failing to end sex parties at the now notorious Dolphin Square complex, in Pimlico, central London, following the intervention of ‘prominent people’.

It is claimed that members of a wealthy and powerful elite believed they were ‘untouchable’ after police were warned off shutting down the sordid activities.

Probe: Police allegedly stopped investing a child sex ring based in Dolphin Square in Westmister, pictured

One senior figure under the spotlight is former Tory home secretary William Whitelaw, who is accused of demanding that police drop an inquiry into a paedophile ring.

The politician, one of Margaret Thatcher’s closest allies, is suspected of quashing a year-long investigation into a gang accused of abusing 40 children.

Other inquiries focus on claims that the names of high-profile sex attackers were removed from witness statements and that police deliberately let senior politicians off the hook. One inquiry is examining allegations that Special Branch seized a dossier naming 16 MPs and peers handed to an investigative journalist by a former Labour minister.

Unbelievably, two undercover officers are themselves suspected of sexually abusing a boy during a raid at the Elm Guest House. The IPCC is still considering two further cases, including the shadowy murder of eight-year-old Vishal Mehrotra in July 1981.

Allegations: Sarah Green of the IPCC will oversee the investigation into the corruption claims

His family believes he may have fallen into the hands of members of the VIP sex ring and evidence leading to their door was deliberately ignored.

Sarah Green, of the IPCC, said police and her officials were examining claims that evidence was suppressed, investigations were hindered and halted and offences covered up.

‘These allegations are of historic, high level corruption of the most serious nature,’ she said. ‘Allegations of this nature are of grave concern and I would like to reassure people of our absolute commitment to ensuring that the investigations are thorough and robust.’

Defending the decision to ‘manage’ the Met inquiry, rather than undertake an independent one, she said: ‘The new criminal investigations looking at alleged police corruption are closely linked and well under way.’

Mrs Green said this decision remained under review and could be changed if new evidence came to light. Responding to the inquiries, Mr Watson said many child abuse victims will have mixed feelings but will be pleased that their voices are now being heard.

He said: ‘It is a potentially momentous milestone in the pursuit of justice that many survivors have been calling and campaigning for over many decades.’

Peter Garsden, president of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, said those who had suffered abuse themselves would want the inquiry to be conducted transparently.

He said: ‘They will believe that even this investigation, I suspect, will be yet another cover-up.’

A Met spokesman said the force recognised the ‘severity of the allegations’ and therefore ‘voluntarily’ referred them to the IPCC. He said: ‘Ongoing investigations and recent convictions … have shown that the Met is fully committed to investigating non-recent allegations of sexual abuse.’

The biggest police anti-corruption investigation in modern history was Operation Countryman which focused on links between police and the criminal underworld.

The investigation, which cost £3million and was conducted over four years until 1982, saw eight officers being prosecuted. None was convicted.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the decision to leave the inquiries in the hands of the Met and said another force could have been called in.

Cyril Smith was held at paedophile sex party - but police were told 'cover it up or face prosecution under the Official Secrets Act'

By Jaya Narain for The Daily Mail

Cyril Smith was arrested at a sex party with teenage boys, according to an investigation.

The 29-stone Liberal MP was snared by an undercover police operation gathering evidence of child abuse.

Sources say officers had targeted several properties in south London suspected of hosting sex parties.

According to BBC’s Newsnight, Smith was seized at a house in Streatham. But within hours of being taken to a police station he was released, with officers being ordered to hand over all their evidence – including notebooks and video footage.

Detained: The late Liberal MP Cyril Smith (pictured) was apparently arrested at a sex party involving boys but was released without charge

They were then warned to keep quiet about the investigation into the MP or face prosecution under the Official Secrets Act.

The claims last night came after the Daily Mail revealed the full sordid past of the Rochdale MP who died in 2010. The serialisation of Smile for the Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith by MP Simon Danczuk laid bare the full scale of his crimes.

Outing him in Parliament as a serial child abuser, Mr Danczuk revealed that Smith used his profile to groom and sexually abuse young boys, frequently in children’s homes he had helped to establish.

Labour MP Simon Danczuk outed Smith as a serial child abuser during a session of Parliament

His victims, often troubled boys from broken homes, had no voice against their attacker and, though rumours were rife, Smith’s appalling crimes went unnoticed by the public.

They also went unpunished by the authorities and Mr Danczuk is convinced Smith, who was knighted in 1988, was protected by powerful friends. Last night Mr Danczuk said: ‘Time and again what we have learned more recently is that a number of police officers investigated Smith up and down the country and those investigations were quashed and officers were told to stop investigating.

‘It is my view that Smith was being protected and being protected by some fairly powerful people. It is my view he was protected because he knew of other paedophiles in the networks in which he operated and had he been prosecuted then I think those other people would have been named by Smith and that’s why they ensured they would never be put before the courts.’

The latest revelations come after an investigator, fearful of being identified, spoke to Newsnight about Smith’s arrest through an intermediary. They told the BBC a three-month inquiry was launched in 1981 and officers working on shifts had gathered a substantial amount of evidence of men abusing boys aged around 14.

The detectives were stationed at Gilmore House, a large police headquarters in South Kennington Road, south London.

They targeted six or more addresses but one focus was a flat in Coronation Buildings, in Lambeth – a rundown tenement block less than a mile from the House of Commons.

The evidence included pictures and video taken from inside the flat – a hidden camera had been installed with the help of a caretaker.

According to sources Smith was seized at a different property in Streatham at a sex party involving teenage boys and taken to the former Canon Row police station – opposite the House of Commons. But he was released that same night with the police desk sergeant being harshly reprimanded for wanting to keep the MP in custody.

EXTRAORDINARY ABUSE CLAIMS THAT LEAD TO THE HEART OF POWER By Chris Greenwood for The Daily Mail Extraordinary accusations of police corruption go to the heart of the Establishment child sex ring scandal. Among the 14 claims now under scrutiny are: NOTORIOUS GUEST HOUSE Police are accused of dropping criminal allegations against a top-level politician suspected of abusing young boys at Elm Guest House in Barnes, south-west London, in the 1970s and 1980s. Officers are also suspected of deliberately failing to investigate rumours of abuse at the property, leaving boys to be suffer for years. UNDERCOVER SURVEILLANCE An elaborate undercover operation monitoring the Elm Guest House and other ‘sex party’ venues that ensnared Smith was scrapped after his arrest, it is claimed. Police are investigating whether officers were sworn to secrecy and had their evidence seized after the bust. UNDERAGE SEX PARTIES A ‘pro-active operation’ targeting young men at the exclusive apartment complex is believed to have been stopped after the intervention of ‘prominent people’. It is now suspected that Dolphin Square was the scene for dozens of horrific child abuse ‘sex parties’, attended by the wealthy and powerful. DOCUMENT TAMPERING It has been claimed that a sex abuse victim, now aged in his 40s and living in the US, named his abuser – a ‘senior figure’ who worked at the ‘big house’ [Parliament] – in an interview he gave police in 1982. This information was later discovered to have not been included in witness statements or submitted into evidence handed to prosecutors. LET OFF THE HOOK Police are investigating whether ‘bigger fish’ were let off the hook after the Old Bailey conviction of notorious paedophile Sidney Cooke and his closest associates. He is suspected of procuring boys for VIPs but none of his ‘customers’ was prosecuted. WHITELAW’S INTERVENTION The actions of former Tory home secretary William Whitelaw are in the spotlight over claims he demanded that police drop inquiries into the VIP paedophile ring. He allegedly told a senior officer to quash a year-long investigation into a gang accused of abusing 40 children, the youngest being six. THE 'STOLEN' FILE Police are probing claims by veteran campaigning journalist Don Hale that a dossier of information about the activities of 16 MPs and peers was confiscated by Special Branch officers in the mid-1980s. It had been given to him by former Labour Party minister Barbara Castle. POLICE ACCUSED OF ABUSE Unbelievably, police themselves are suspected of sexually abusing a boy and following him, the IPCC said. This allegation is believed to focus on a raid at the Elm Guest House in which undercover officers are suspected of having sex with a ‘gay masseur’, who was then 16. ORDERS FROM ON HIGH Other allegations focus on claims highly-sensitive surveillance operations were shut down prematurely, claims against a ‘senior politician’ were shelved and orders came down from ‘on high’ at Scotland Yard to cease inquiries. A SHADOWY MURDER The IPCC is still considering two further cases, including that of shadowy murder of eight-year-old Vishal Mehrotra in July 1981. His father believes he may have died at the hands of members of the VIP sex ring. Advertisement

The BBC was told the squad also had evidence on a member of the intelligence agencies and two senior police officers. Boys from care homes were apparently being provided ‘to order’ for sex parties.

According to the source, the investigating squad was called together for a meeting and told to hand over all their notebooks, photographs and any video footage.

They were then read passages from the Official Secrets Act to stop them from speaking out, according to one account.

It is my view that Smith was being protected by some fairly powerful people MP Simon Danczuk

After a shouting match, the inquiry was closed and officers were assured those who had been caught ‘would not be playing a role in public life any more’. In fact, Smith continued as an MP for Rochdale until 1992 with Nick Clegg paying fulsome tribute to him when he died.

The Metropolitan Police has refused to discuss the Smith case but yesterday confirmed the force was investigating allegations that police officers acted inappropriately in relation to historical child abuse investigations.

Former Scotland Yard detective Clive Driscoll told Newsnight he thought the claims were ‘credible’. Mr Driscoll, who investigated claims of child abuse in Lambeth in the 1980s and 1990s and was the officer who convicted the killers of Stephen Lawrence, said: ‘I have looked at them as I probably would have done as a police officer and I have to say on the balance of probability they look very credible.