At PMQs Lisa Nandy raised this clip of former Tory whip Tim Fortescue explaining back in 1995 how party whips could help cover up a potential sex abuse scandal. Nandy says she brought it up with Theresa May three years ago. To be fair to the PM this references the whips office in the seventies and is somewhat different to the current scandal, but a sign at least of what used to go on…

“Anyone with any sense who was in trouble would come to the whips and tell them the truth, and say now, “I’m in a jam, can you help?” It might be debt, it might be a scandal involving small boys, or any kind of scandal which a member seemed likely to be mixed up in, they’d come and ask if we could help. And if we could, we did. We would do everything we can because we would store up brownie points. That sounds a pretty nasty reason but one of the reasons is, if we can get a chap out of trouble, he’ll do as we ask forever more.”

The words of former Tory MP Tim Fortescue. Who was appointed a government whip in 1970, by one Edward Heath…

Pat on the back for the BBC researcher who dug this out of the archives. Back in 1995 the late Tim Fortescue, who was a Tory whip in the Heath years, explained how party whips could help cover up a potential paedophile scandal:

“Anyone with any sense who was in trouble would come to the whips and tell them the truth, and say now, “I’m in a jam, can you help?” It might be debt, it might be a scandal involving small boys, or any kind of scandal which a member seemed likely to be mixed up in, they’d come and ask if we could help. And if we could, we did. We would do everything we can because we would store up brownie points. That sounds a pretty nasty reason but one of the reasons is, if we can get a chap out of trouble, he’ll do as we ask forever more.”

His little black book must have made for eye-watering reading…