“The Role of Government Edicts in False
Accusations of Child Abuse”.
Blue paragraphs
and extracts may be cut through shortage of time.
Red italic items are reference materials
not intended to be read out.
This brings me to Arthur Miller’s “Crucible”
which was written in the post-war period when fear of global Communist
expansion reached hysterical proportions and a search began for
the enemy within. U.S Senator Joseph McCarthy instituted the hearings
of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Hollywood
was decimated as actors, writers and directors were accused of communism
and found themselves unable to work. Arthur Miller drew attention
to the crusade against suspected Communist sympathisers through
his masterpiece “The Crucible”. It tells the story of
the New England witch hunts of the late seventeenth century. The
context in which these witch-hunts took place had been exported
with the Pilgrim Fathers from Britain, where a century earlier the
influence of the Maleus Maleficarum had devastated communities caught
up in the web of fear and false accusation.
In the McCarthy era, it was impossible to speak out in support
of those falsely accused, for fear of being oneself accused of having
communist sympathies. It was only when the former Allied Supreme
Commander, General Eisenhower became President of the United States
that someone was able to point out that the Emperor had no clothes.
Eisenhower’s military credibility gave him the persuasive
authority to be taken seriously. Eisenhower denounced McCarthy and
at long last people were able to speak common sense without fear
of recrimination. The whole house of cards came tumbling down.
To date it has not been possible to find anyone with sufficient
persuasive authority to point out the ridiculous nature of many
of the false accusations of child abuse in the UK and abroad where
fear has been whipped up and the gospel according to Saints Roy
and David has become government policy. Most people in public life
are too afraid of being branded as potential child abusers or apologists
if they speak out against the MSBP myth. The
churches who should have taken up the search for truth have been
contaminated by stories of vicars behaving badly and have therefore
been unable to use their imperium.
Following my initial contact with Earl Howe
and the subsequent meeting between Earl Howe, Nick Lyell, Charles
Pragnell, Lisa Blakemore Brown and me there was a sense of needing
a political focus to bring the question of false allegation of Child
Abuse to the attention of Parliament. My husband and I then met
with Lord Clement Jones who then met with Earl Howe. These two front
bench Health Spokespersons of the two major opposition parties [Earl
Howe and Lord Clement Jones] and alighted
on the idea of a Lords Debate on False Accusation of Child Abuse
to be opened by Earl Howe and summed up by Lord Clement Jones. A
provisional date was arranged but had to be postponed because of
mad cow disease. The debate was eventually set for 17 October
2001 which was very timely as it was a few weeks before the closing
date for evidence and comment concerning the draft guidelines on
Fictitious and Induced Illness in Children.
In the run up to the Lords debate there was a flurry of activity.
Earl Howe met Lord Hunt of Kings Heath of the Department of Health
who would reply to the debate for the Government. Lord Hunt was
flanked by key civil servants. Earl Howe presented Lord Hunt with
a compelling dossier of case histories and other information questioning
or disproving the hypotheses of Meadow and Southall and suggesting
that the proposed guidelines on FII were entirely inappropriate.
He came away with the impression that this was the first time that
key civil servants had heard anything contrary to the Meadow/Southall
view.
Earlier in that same summer I had written to Beverley Hughes and
to Harriet Harman requesting a meeting to discuss MSBP. I had known
and worked with Harriet on the issue of after school and holiday
provision. My letter was ignored until after Earl Howe’s meeting
with Lord Hunt.
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© Jan Loxley Blount 05 11 04 London
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