01/03/2016 Newsnight

Tonight, was a Scotland Yard detective taken off the case

because he wanted to talk to a government minister?

I have been 34-and-a-half years in the Met police.

I am immensely proud to have been a police officer and to have been

This is the one period in my career which just troubles me greatly.

For 18 months we've been investigating what went wrong

when this policeman was trying to discover the truth

about allegations of widespread abuse in south

Clive had been suspended from the case, the investigation,

he was going to be disciplined, he had been interviewed

and they found he had nothing and to all intents and purposes

the matter should be regarded as completely closed.

What does this case reveal about the sensitivities that arise

Also tonight, the US Presidential Primaries

The Republican Party machine is looking for salvation.

They are currently grappling with what psychologists might call

the five stages of grief, somewhere between denial that Trump

is going to win the nomination, and acceptance that it is all going

to end up like that, comes the fightback.

They want to know if he is stoppable and what the nuclear options

Over the last few years, few subjects have caused as much

controversy as the investigations into historic cases of child abuse.

The issue is a minefield for survivors, for police and,

Over time, rumours become reality and facts are too easily

How do you disentangle all this to find the truth?

That is what Justice Goddard has set herself up to do in a public inquiry

that gets under way this month and will last years.

She has prioritised a handful of cases that need urgent attention

and one of them is the London borough of Lambeth.

Unlike other stories you have heard, there is no doubt the children's

homes here were infiltrated by paedophiles, a number of men have

But there is a lingering feeling the police didn't uncover

Tonight we set out one small part of the Lambeth story,

an important episode that involves the police,

Detectives had been investigating a man for child abuse

and as they looked into his case, they were told the suspect seemed

There was no suggestion the minister had done anything wrong.

But should police talk to him to see if he could help the inquiry?

In fact, Scotland Yard chose not to approach him.

And that baffled some people, including one experienced

So, did detectives make the right call?

There is another important twist, because detectives weren't dealing

To understand the sensitivities here we need to explain

who he was and the job he held. The minister was Paul Boateng,

Home Office minister in charge of the police,

a man who'd made his name as a lawyer criticising the Met.

Over the last 18 months, we've approached all the key people

in this saga, including Lord Boateng himself.

But this film doesn't draw conclusions.

It asks questions, questions that still haven't been answered

The borough of Lambeth in south London, a prime focus for the

independent enquiry into child sex abuse held by justice Goddard. Her

team will look at what went on in children's care homes here more than

30 years ago and review decisions taken by the police that are still

contentious today. Perhaps none more so than what led to the removal of

an officer from a sensitive enquiry and what happened to the information

he had. At the heart of this story is one fundamental issue, the an

easy relationship between the police and those in power. I have been 34

and a half years in the Metropolitan police service and I was immensely

proud to be a police officer, but this is the one period in my career

which troubles me greatly. In 1998, Clive Driscoll was a detective

working on a delicate case. Police in Liverpool had arrested a man

called John Carroll. He was accused of offences in Liverpool and

Lambeth. He had been the manager of children's care home in Lambeth and

Driscoll's job was to pick up the London end of the inquiry. Was there

more to follow up? He thought there was. Among several potential

witnesses he wanted to talk to was this man, Paul Boateng, a rising

star in Tony player's government. Approaching any minister would have

been awkward, but speaking to Boateng would have been particularly

so, he had just been appointed minister in charge of the police.

Newsnight has spent 18 months investigating what happened in this

borough back then and one thing is for sure. It is as controversial now

as it ever was. This story begins with Driscoll's investigation,

Operation Trawler. The prime focus of his enquiries where this man,

John Carroll, who would plead guilty to charges of indecent assault and

burglary of young boys in the 1970s and 80s. He was sentenced to ten

years in jail. Police in London continued to look into his past,

they wanted to be sure the full extent of his abuse in Lambeth care

homes had been uncovered. It was becoming clear there were still

people who might be able to shed light on his activities. Driscoll

investigated through the autumn of 1998. These confidential

papers record the work he was undertaking. Driscoll was told

Carroll like to get among well-known people in the local community,

dignitaries, police officers, councillors. Two witnesses mentioned

the name of one particularly prominent individual he had met in

this way. We have spoken to both of them. One was a former social worker

who had worked under Carroll at the Angel Road care home. Her name was

Teresa Johnson. Her identity has never been revealed before. She told

us she had seen many visitors come and go from the home. One of them

she says was Paul Boateng. She says she saw him on up to six occasions

and once spoke to him in the reception area. By the office there

was a table with visitorsbook and everybody who comes into our home

has to sign the book. I said, excuse me, can you sign the visitors' book?

And he signed it. You saw his name in there? Yes. The second person who

had spoken to Driscoll was a youth worker from a local charity which

ran annual caravan holidays for people in care. He told us John

Carroll attended these camps and he remembered many local dignitaries

visiting or helping out. One of them he says was Paul Boateng. John

Carroll would regularly talk about him being able to open doors for

him. John Carroll believed he should have been someone far more

significant. From your own recollections, you saw John Carroll

with this man? Definitely. On how many occasions? Quite a few. There

was a third piece of information in Driscoll's files. In the mid-19 80s

John Carroll attempted to foster children. Lambeth supported this,

but needed the neighbouring borough, Southwark, two second it. They

refused. They discovered Carroll already had a conviction for child

abuse dating back to the 1960s. Southwark couldn't believe Lambeth

Council did not know about this and had not sacked him. Newsnight has

been told the decision provoked a bitter row between the two Council.

We have been told a few days later the official who took the decision

to block the application received a phone call from a man who identified

himself as Paul Boateng, although the official could not be sure it

was him. The caller had asked him if there was anything he could do to

help resolve the row around Carroll's posturing. The offer was

not taken up. There is no suggestion they were aware of Carroll's

previous conviction. Driscoll told colleagues he needed to talk to Paul

Boateng in case he could shed light on Carol's activities. Then to his

astonishment he was axed. One of those who knew Driscoll was about to

approach Boateng was a senior Lambeth official, Nigel Goldie. But

Goldie thought the detective had told too many people about his

plans. He said he raised his concerns within Lambeth Council.

Within days, Goldie had been spoken to by another police officer called

Richard da Genie. He said he told him to forget about Driscoll and his

Leeds. Clive had been suspended from the investigation and he was going

to be disciplined. He had been interviewed and they found he had

nothing and that to all intents and purposes the matter should be

regarded as completely closed. Nothing more was going to be done

about it. It should be left and I should not speak to anyone about it,

were you surprised he had been removed? I was surprised, I was not

expecting that kind of drastic action. Driscoll is also bemused.

For him any claim that the product of his investigation had come to

nothing did not make sense. He said he had not told anyone who he wanted

to speak to or why. Did Driscoll get what he deserved, or was this a good

excuse to get him out before he stirred up a political Hornets'

nest? A secret internal, Scotland Yard report said Driscoll committed

serious indiscretions, but it also refers to the political

sensitivities that resulted in his removal from Lambeth. Like many

senior officers at Scotland Yard, Driscoll had his critics and he

admits he can be a bit of a bull in a china shot. But the disciplinary

proceedings against him were quickly drop and his career soared.

The Lawrence's family's long wait for justice. Two men are found

guilty. Driscoll was rated as the detective

who finally brought them to justice. Baroness Doreen Lawrence describes

Driscoll as an officer with integrity. Driscoll says he

subsequently handed over his notebooks and documents to Dyer

Genie. He says they detail the progress he was making with people

to contact. It was around the time that Driscoll was removed that car

Genie was asked to run a new inquiry called operation Middleton. It was

on a bigger scale and as well as police now involve a team of

specially trained social workers. They were known as the child abuse

in Lambeth team. But operation Middleton did not pick up where

Driscoll had left off. John Carroll was no longer the sole focus of the

enquiry. Instead detectives were tasked with looking at allegations

of child abuse across all Lambeth's children's homes going back 20

years. So what happened to Driscoll's documents, his Leeds, his

notebooks? That is one of the key unanswered questions. Why? Because

Teresa Johnson told us she did not hear from detectives again. This

left her feeling distrustful of the police. Social workers contacted her

some years later as part of a general sweep of all former staff,

but she told us they never asked her about the information she had given

Driscoll. In our investigation we met with a dozen times. She died in

September last year. The charity worker from the caravan park was not

spoken to either. He too lost faith in the police. The Southwark

official who took the adoption call was never contacted either. Some

officers in operation Middleton had told us they were unaware of the

information Driscoll had compiled, information that had justified his

plan to approach the minister. One confesses that Driscoll even told

him, claimed that emphatically denies.

There was another strand of information presented to police.

Social workers discovered a document suggesting Paul Boateng and his wife

had visited the Angel Road tempo in the mid-19 80s when John Carroll was

in charge. We were told the information was passed to detectives

on operation Muggleton. Social workers recognised the potential

sensitivities and they were told it was discussed at the highest levels

of the police and the Home Office. We put this to this attempt to Eddie

said was unable to clarify the sequence of events because he did

not have access to computer records in relation to operation Muggleton.

He said was an ongoing enquiry and it would be inappropriate to comment

further. None of this suggest that Paul Boateng has done anything

wrong. And the police said they have never received any complaints about

him. But might he have had information that could help the

police investigation? Driscoll thought so. Regardless of the

sensitivities. The new enquiry did not. Met officers we spoke to deny

the bottled it and describe Middleton is a gold standard

enquiry. So why is this important? In operation Muggleton posmack early

days officers let it be known they had 40 offenders in their sights. It

emerged that 60 alleged abusers had died. Another 19 could not be

identified. At the end of the four-year enquiry the police secured

three convictions. Operation Muggleton's final report noted it

would be unreasonable to judge the success of the operation solely on

the basis of the number of successful prosecutions. So where

are we now put up as we make clear, there is no evidence that Lord

Boateng did anything wrong. He has told us he only became aware of

officer Carol Dzagoev Carol when he was arrested. He told us that as a

campaigning lawyer he acted for many young people in care and met many of

the social workers and visited many use facilities in the course of his

work. He did not personally know Mr Carroll and had no recollection of

meeting him professionally or visiting the Angel Road or anywhere

else he was present. He told us he remembered the charity that he has

no recollection of visiting during the caravan holidays. And he said he

did not make the call to a council official. The statement added, I

would be appalled if Mr Carroll was not properly investigated and

children harmed as as a result. I'm unaware how the investigation into

Mr Carroll was conducted and knew nothing about the matter is under

investigation. So I cannot comment on why the police did not seek my

assistance in connection with this matter. I would of course have been

happy to assist. Scotland Yard launched its own internal review

almost three years ago. It is now being overseen by the Independent

Police Complaints Commission. Now just as God has made Lambeth a

priority. The questions they're looking at go to the heart of

policing. Officers take us to act without fear or favour. Did they do

that in this case? -- take an oath. To try to help answer the question,

just as God heard turned to this man. Raymond Stevenson was a boy in

one of the Lambeth care homes. 18 months ago he set up a support group

for survivors. He is now seeing more than 600 members.

A music producer, he directed a video to highlight the issue of

child abuse in Lambeth. He believes police avoided asking awkward

questions. We have four pieces of information that appear to show a

link, alleged link between Paul Boateng and John Carroll. You think

that he should have been spoken to by the police?

I know those links you're talking about and of course he should have

been spoken to. Anyone with those connecting pieces of information

should be spoken to, whoever they are.

John Carroll now lives in the Midlands, he declined to speak to

us. Here he is with children in his care, pictures never seen before. By

Tansey was charming, terrifying, manipulative. -- by Tansey was

charming. Newsnight held many conflict and stories about his world

and to sell it but most can agree on one thing. The story of child abuse

in Lambeth and the story of John Carroll has never been fully told.

Well, Jake Morris carried out that investigation with Nick and I spoke

Jake, we've seen one police investigation accused of being far

too credulous, in this case the suggestion is the investigation

Why do you think the police have such a chequered record in these

Evan, I think manny police officers would say they're dammed if they do,

and dammed if they don't when it comes to these kind of inquiries.

There are lots of campaigners who believe the police repeatedly

failed to do their job in the 1970s and the 1980s when dealing

But there are some critics of the police who feel the pendulum

And officers are now being overzealous in the way

As we said, this is desperately difficult territory for the police.

Because many of these allegations are about events that allegedly

And also because of the incendiary nature of what is being suggested.

Now, given that you and Nick in the report spell out very clearly

that there is no evidence that Paul Boateng, Lord Boateng,

did anything wrong, why did you feel it was important to name him

We thought very long and hard about this and our feeling

was to fully understand this story you needed to tell the particular

sensitivities around this particular minister.

Therefore we needed to say what job he did, and who he was.

Paul Boateng wasn't just any influential figure,

he was the man who was a minister with responsibility for the police.

And he was also someone who had built his reputation and come

to prominence as a lawyer who was often very critical

Well Justice Goddard has said she will start looking at Lambeth

this month and she has outlined what she is going to be looking at.

And I quote - "allegations that there was inappropriate

interference in law enforcement investigations, into the sexual

abuse of children in the care of the council."

As we also said, the police have been looking at this for nearly

But there are witnesses we have spoken to who have told us they have

lost faith in this review, who do not believe it

will get to the bottom of what happened in Lambeth.

So I think it fair to say Justice Goddard will have her work

cut out to reassure them that on this occasion she really will get

That name gives it the buzz of a sporting fixture

or a reality TV event, but it is the biggest day

of the season of US Presidential Primaries.

Emily is there as votes are cast, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Good evening from Nashville, Tennessee. It is the first time the

state gets to vote in Super Tuesday and the day has acquired new

significance because this is the moment we find out if Donald Trump

is electrically unstoppable. For the past six months,

the Republican party machine has careered between denial

and acceptance of Trump The backlash against him is growing,

but have the big guns of the GOP left it too late to endorse

their preferred candidate, I put the question to a former

presidential candidate. First a breakdown of how those

numbers stack up. Held across 11 states

in a territory, Super Tuesday spreads the election

battleground across the country, from the Alaska caucus

to American Samoa in the Pacific. You can see why it is a decisive

day for candidates - nearly half of all Republican

delegates are for grabs today. Meanwhile Hillary Clinton

and Bernie Sanders will compete for 865, almost a third

of their total number. Going into Super Tuesday,

Clinton is ahead with 546. Donald Trump meanwhile

is on 82 delegates. Marco Rubio is one behind him

on just 16. Hillary Clinton is expected to win

everywhere but Vermont - Sanders' home state -

and Oklahoma which is tied. Trump is expected to win in ten out

of the eleven states, the exception being Texas where

Ted Cruz has the home advantage. In the beginning we used to talk

about Trump having the angry voter, but our sense travelling around

is that he has got much more than that, the suburban

Republicans, college graduate Republicans, even perhaps

the evangelicals. We start our piece

in downtown Nashville. Nashville is to music

what the Vatican is to prayer. A holy city of honky-tonk,

country and western, It brings the believers

out in force and even on a Monday night,

Laila's Bluegrass Inn gets them The old hands and yes,

the absolute beginner. Mike's band has been playing

Nashville for decades, part of him mourns the changes

he is seeing here. So when Trump appeared,

or as another Nashville singer might put it, came in like a wrecking

ball, the choice was easy. I had a paint business

for 25 years, it took And when the politicians decided

to let Mexico get up and move to Tennessee and take my business

from me, it felt like my government and reached down and

snatched my paint business away from me and handed it

to a bunch of illegal immigrants. Mike has stressed

to me his Christian What is curious is that even here,

deep in the Bible Belt, that sense of faith no longer

dictates where the vote goes. In this small town of Sparta

in Tennessee, we counted 16 churches just driving around

the neighbourhood. In other words, this is a part

of the world with plenty Yet Donald Trump,

three times married, criticised by the Pope

for his non-Christian beliefs, leads the polls here

by more than 10%. It is that kind of

statistic that makes Over the border in Georgia,

we join evangelicals to try and make It is a diverse congregation,

ethnically and politically, and a preacher focused

on Super Tuesday. And I know that in your minds,

you're thinking, this candidate or this candidate, it is not

easy to find somebody. Pastor Rouse won't name

names, but you can detect I think, you know, we're

going to see this election play out that a possible candidate will be

elected purely because the whole If his message has

urgency, it is because With half the Republican

delegates up for grabs today, this contest can turbo propel

whoever comes out on top Super Tuesday is when the southern

states of America come Places like this, Tennessee,

Alabama, Georgia, with a strong evangelical, blue-collar vote,

might want to have gone for Ted More extraordinary than that,

he is dominating with college graduates, with suburban

Republicans, even with The classifications may be crude,

but the big picture is clear. Of course the polling

figures do not represent America, just a tiny Republican core

who vote in primaries. But when you compare Trump

to his nearest rivals, The Republican Party

machine is looking They're currently grappling

with what psychologists Somewhere between denial that

Trump is going to win the nomination, and acceptance

that it is all going to end up They want to know if he is

stoppable, and what the nuclear Thus a flurry of endorsements

from the GOP's big guns in the last 72 hours for Florida

Senator Marco Rubio. Former presidential candidate

Lamar Alexander and state Governor Bill Haslam have

jetted into his rally I asked them if it

is not all too late. There is a lot of election ahead

of us, OK, and obviously But if you look at all those

numbers, the longer people look at it, the more

they are convinced he And if he doesn't win

any of the states on Obviously the goal is

to stay in the game. And I think you will see

Marco Rubio out there And I honestly think those

delegates will fall in place. You know what is like to run

for president, at this point in the race, does it feel

like there is desperation setting No, if I were Marco Rubio,

I would be encouraged. Because he has got the money

to continue and literally, we are in the second

or third or fourth game The party is in a race

against itself right now. Both Cruz and Rubio poll better

against Hillary Clinton Yet that doesn't seem to be a factor

in where the primary vote is going. Comedian Jon Stewart

is blindingly brilliant You have to remember one

thing about the will It wasn't that long ago

we were all swept away I doubt they recognise

the Macarena here in But whatever step they do make

next, will need some And with me now is Senator

Becky Duncan Massey, Republican member of

the Tennessee Senate and a Rubio supporter, and Mark Winslow

who is a member of the Tennessee GOP executive committee and is running

as a delegate for Donald Trump. I think he has got a very good lead,

but there will be a concerted effort to stop him. What do you make of the

backlash, all the senators coming out for Rubio? We are seeing some

coming out for Donald Trump, but change is difficult and a lot of

people are afraid of the change he might bring. I described the mood in

your party as crisis mode and when we were speaking to Senator

Alexander yesterday, they sound like they are in denial. Polls are

showing that Donald Trump is leading strongly. In any election you have a

difference of opinions. You look at their policies, their experience,

their faith and their character. That is where people make their

decisions. What do you think the mainstream Republican party should

have done differently if they had wanted to stop Donald Trump when

they could? I think having 17 people in the race at the beginning made a

big difference. It was hard for people to coalesce around one

candidate and the race would have been a lot different if they had

basically two front runner is from the beginning. This is democracy in

action, this is how the Republicans are voting in the primaries, but

when you look at the polls which suggest that either Rubio or Ted

Cruz would do better against Hillary Clinton, are you not cutting off

your nose despite your face? It is a long time until November and we will

find out as we approach November whether Republicans begin to

coalesce or not. You say they will coalesce, are you confident of that?

We are hearing Republican voices who are saying if it is Donald Trump I

am staying at home. I am hopeful. You are finding people like Governor

Christie and several members of Congress, yesterday there was a

member from Tennessee who came in supporting Donald Trump in his

campaign. Change is hard and hopefully they will come around and

understand we need to be united for the election in November. If Marco

Rubio and Ted Cruz both do well tonight... Which I hope for. That

will basically secured Donald Trump for longer. Well, it is narrowing

down. There were five people in the last debate and they have to get 20%

of the vote in Tennessee to get the proportional delegates. I believe at

best there will only be three people that will get the delegates in

Tennessee and that will keep the candidacy alive. Give us a sense of

what this means for Tennessee. It is the first time it takes part in

Super Tuesday and we have seen no real attack ads. How does that

change the dynamic? We have not always had the number of adverts as

in Iowa and New Hampshire, they had votes based on publicity. This time

there have been some ads, but not enough resources have been put in at

this stage. Are you expecting Donald Trump to win pretty much everything

but Texas? If so, what is the fancy footwork that the mainstream of the

party want if they are still intent on stopping him? They could accept

the people's well. The good thing is in America you have one person, one

vote. You go out and work each state and each area and there are people

on the ground in every state and I am sure the candidacy will continue.

Obviously I am strongly for Senator Rubio. He is the right candidate, he

unites people, and I think the more he gets out, and we had 2000 people

in Knoxville yesterday and 4000 in Franklin, and the majority of those

votes were young people. It is great to see how many people are taking

part and we will keep on working on it. Yesterday Donald Trump was

blaming his earpiece when he had not been able to explain why it had

taken him so long to distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan. Was

that a moment of embarrassment for you as a supporter? No, when you

have a first-time candidate who does not have all the political polish,

you are going to have things like that now and then. You are joking.

You are saying he is lacking the political polish? He has not been

through the method of polish that the other candidates can and he has

not been giving Senate floor speeches and he has not been in the

arena. You take the sweet bumps with the positives. If he had said, yes I

can accept the Ku Klux Klan endorsement, would that have put

people off or not particularly? I do not know of any civilised person who

believes represent everything. That shows character and if those are his

beliefs, it would bother me significantly. I bet that is the

biggest question, how much Donald Trump means what he says and how far

he would go to implement some of the more extreme policies that he has

discussed. We will know the result from here at about nine o'clock

tonight. The polls show in a couple of hours' time and we will bring you

all the race, including what is happening in the Democratic race

tomorrow. Back in Europe, migrant numbers

are building up in Greece, people unable to move north and west

up through Macedonia. It is beginning to look horrifyingly

like a humanitarian crisis. We have the figures

for February now. People coming off boats from Turkey

to Lesbos as in these pictures From the islands, the new arrivals

get to Athens by ferry. Here are scenes today

at the passenger terminal And that is where the

latest problems start. Because people get to the border

with Macedonia and then 9,000 or so camping

in the fields near that border. The Macedonians now tightening

the border to prevent any more Well, this is causing problems

for Greece as the minister for citizen protection there,

Nikos Toskas, explained I started by asking him

about the situation There is a serious crisis,

as I said, in the area. And this serious crisis is caused

by the different wars in Syria, We did not start the wars,

but we are receiving the results And various people are

coming with nothing. We are providing them

with the basic things, But they don't want to stay

in the different camps, Only a small number

of refugees are passing. Yesterday only 30 people

passed from the borders. So this is a serious

problem but unfortunately, a few European Union countries

and a few Balkan countries are not dealing with the problem in

a collective and comprehensible way. You said some of them are not

behaving in a collective way. Name some names

for me, if you would. The previous days, a decision

was taken in Vienna. And so the decision really

was the borders would be closed We have a different approach,

we want, as I said, We believe European countries have

to share the burden, European countries can receive

a number of refugees. Most of the European countries have

accepted this approach, but unfortunately there are other

countries taking their own path. And they're taking care only

of their national interest and not the collective interest

of the European Union. What can Greece do to put pressure

on its European partners, what can you do to say, guys,

you have to do what you have said you're going to do and you have

got to help us here? Many times we requested

from the European Union to deal One year ago they thought that this

was only a problem which affected only the southern areas

and especially Greece. Later on they realised that these

flows were affecting And so they started dealing more

seriously about the problem. So they started trying to find ways,

to find solutions for the problem. The real solution will be the ending

of the war to the areas which are the sources

of the problem in Syria, One final question

if you would, Minister. What effect do you think this

is having on Greek society? We are receiving everyday 2,500

immigrants and refugees. We are in the middle

of a financial crisis, so we have two real

crises in the country. The financial and

the refugee problem. We cannot be the black

hole of Europe. We need support from the different

countries and we need a real solution for the flows

and the problem. Minister Toskas, thank

you very much indeed. We'll wake up to American

politics I dare say, but before we go to bed,

a bit of South Korea, where the filibuster to end

all filibusters is still under way. Opposition MPs there protesting

at anti-terrorism legislation started their attempt to talk it out

back on February 23rd and they have I can't tell you what they're

saying, but at this point,