The “bullish and self opinionated” former leader of Rochdale council lied to an inquiry about his knowledge of a child sex abuse scandal, a panel has found.

Richard Farnell’s claim that he was unaware of the sexual exploitation of boys at a residential school in the town "defies belief,” its report concluded, while his refusal to accept responsibility for the scandal, whilst heaping blame on others, is described as “shameful”.

He was immediately suspended by the Labour Party on Thursday.

More than 40 men claim they were abused at various locations in Rochdale, including Knowl View school and the Cambridge House hostel, between the early 1960s and mid-1990s.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) panel described staff at the council-run school, which has now closed, as “complacent and arguably complicit” in the abuse of boys, which was treated as normal.

In a damning report, it said the authorities showed a "total lack of urgency" to address sexual exploitation and regarded the young victims as "authors of their own abuse.”