Labour MP Simon Danczuk says he was warned against naming Leon Brittan at the home affairs select committee

Senior politicians warned a Labour MP against challenging former Tory Home Secretary Leon Brittan about a dossier detailing allegations of child sex abuse.

Simon Danczuk claims he came under ‘pressure’ from several people, including a current Conservative minister, not to name Lord Brittan in front of a Commons committee.

Amazingly, Mr Danczuk was even warned he could be responsible for Lord Brittan’s death if he was subjected to the stress of becoming embroiled in a public row.

Mr Danczuk who has carried out his own investigation into child abuse by the former Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith, said there was a culture of 'move along, nothing to see here'.

At an appearance in front of the home affairs select committee last week, Mr Danczuk revealed that Lord Brittan had been sent a dossier of allegations about paedophiles between 1983 and 1985 by Geoffrey Dickens MP.

The Labour MP said he believed politics was the 'last refuge of child sex abuse deniers' and repeated his call for a Hillsborough-style inquiry into historical paedophile allegations.

Lord Brittan said in a statement later that he was handed a ‘substantial bundle of papers’ by Mr Dickens in November 1983 and passed them to his officials for further investigation.

But Mr Danczuk claims he was warned off putting Lord Brittan’s name into the public domain in connection with the files said to contain details of a vile paedophile network in Westminster.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said he was approached by a current government minister and urged not to name Lord Brittan.

‘As I was I was making my way from the House of Commons on Monday night after a late vote a Tory minister stepped out of the shadows to confront me.

‘I'd never spoken to him before in my life but he blocked my way and ushered me to one side.

‘He warned me to think very carefully about what I was going to say the next day before the Home Affairs Select Committee when I'd be answering questions on child abuse.’

Mr Danczuk did not name the Tory minister, but said he was told: 'I hear you're about to challenge Lord Brittan about what he knew about child sex abuse.’

He was told it would not be a ‘wise move’ to name Lord Brittan, adding: ‘It was all put to bed a long time ago.'

Mr Danczuk added: ‘We looked at each other in silence for a second. I knew straight away he wasn't telling me this out of concern for the man's welfare. There was no compassion in his voice.’

The Rochdale MP believes similar conversations were being held across Westminster, as allegations swirled over the handling of child abuse claims in Parliament and Whitehall.

He claimed members of the home affairs committee were ‘paid similar visits... phone calls had been made’.

Lord Brittan said in a statement later that he was handed a ‘substantial bundle of papers’ by Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens in November 1983 and passed them to his officials for further investigation

MPs who had previously indicated they would ask him who he thought knew about the VIP child abuse ring at the notorious Elm Guest House in southwest London were ‘suddenly silent’, Mr Danczuk added.

To his surprise, when he confirmed that he had been put under pressure ‘to keep quiet about suspected child abusers’ no further questions were asked.

He said the MPs did not need to ask here the pressure was coming from ‘because they all knew’.

He also claimed police officers feared political interference.

'Among the higher echelons of party politics, where the real power resides, my impression is that there is little appetite to confront the abusers in their midst,' Mr Danczuk said.

'Quite the opposite. The mood is defensive, the approach is dominated by silence. 'Move along, nothing to see here,' or 'what's the point in raking all that up old boy?' is the attitude I have seen time after time.'

He said he was visited by police officers 'to discuss an investigation into a current parliamentarian accused of horrific child abuse'.

He said the police asked him: 'Did I think it was likely that their inquiries would be met by political interference.'

He went on: 'I looked at them in utter disbelief. How can the police put a Cabinet Minister behind bars for lying about speeding points but be worried they couldn't properly investigate someone for child abuse?