Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

This morning this Blog said Fiona Woolf would not survive the weekend as chairman of the child abuse Inquiry. In fact she did not survive the day. So we were right in principle but wrong on detail. But who cares. We are just a blog.

But Ten Downing Street is not just a blog. It is the heart of our government, the office and home of the Prime Minister. Yet, once again on a major public issue, the Prime Minister has made an error of judgement and one that is utterly transparent. David Cameron is losing credibility at a time when he should be forging ahead. He has a clear run against Milliband and Clegg, but not against Farage. Nobody understands why he and his advisers make these mistakes. Remember Andy Coulson, Butler-Sloss and now Woolf to mention just the big ones. Whatever the reasons it does not give confidence in a man of sound judgement. Moreover it reinforces the notion that the whole Westminster machine as now set up is not fit for purpose. To whom will voters turn? Well in Scotland they are turning in tens of thousands to the SNP. And in England? Just wait and see.

My latest thriller, Purple Killing, is coming very soon. It is written in a modern style in a scene by scene format, with punctuation which follows reading flow rather than traditional rules. This creates a compelling  narrative, easy to read and hard to put down. This book is a work of fiction, but at its heart there is a real historical cover-up. This drives the plot, but almost all the events and characters are fictional. Some characters appear also in Hitler’s First Lady, but that is a novel much more closely linked to known historical facts and the true story of a family, which appears in both books as the Benedicts. Here most of their story is fiction, as are all the modern characters within the family and in the world beyond.

About the Book

Dr. Rachael Benedict is an American historian and a best-selling author. She has a British connection through her estranged father Saul, an English thriller writer. Saul, whose parents were of Anglo-German origin, has spent much of his life plotting to expose secrets from World War Two, which are so sensitive they have been subject to an extensive cover-up lasting seventy years. As the time approaches for him to make his move to expose duplicity, murder and lies at the heart of the British State, he seeks Rachael’s help. This provokes a killing spree as parts of the security services of both Britain and the United States become engaged in the drama, with one side determined to get the secrets out and the other determined to keep them hidden.

Set equally in the United States and Britain, the narrative grips from the first page, transporting the reader to the heart of government both in Washington and London and on into the darkest corners of the secret states on each side of the Atlantic. Rachael battles forward to unearth the truth both from intrigues of the Nazi era, but also within her own family, surviving three attempts on her life, before finally achieving her goal. Not only does she expose the truth from history and from her own roots, she has to delve deep into her own emotions to find the truth about herself.

Theresa May’s star shone bright at the Tory Conference and any leadership ambitions she may have harboured were burnished even brighter by her performance there. Moreover she had been able to brush off the unfortunate affair of the fumbled Butler Sloss appointment. The star of Fiona Woolf  was in the ascendant too; a highly respected City lawyer, magistrate and Lord Mayor of London. For these two women of outstanding achievement and unimpeachable integrity things could hardly get better. But they could get worse. And they have.

Theresa appoints Fiona chairman of the child abuse inquiry in the wake of Butler Sloss. Fiona flags up she is a dinner buddy and neighbour of Leon Brittan, the former Home Secretary over whom a question mark hangs about warnings connected to child abuse in high places. She thinks that she ought to send Theresa an official letter to explain this just in case. The Home Office decides to draft the letter. Why? It is to them, not from them. A letter written by or on behalf of the recipient is not a genuine document. There are seven drafts each of which appears to reduce the significance of the connection between Leon and Fiona. Seven drafts. Just think about that.

Then the story leaks and Fiona appears before the Home Affairs Select Committee. They are not happy and demand another letter, which they publish together with the seven drafts. Victims groups  lose confidence in the integrity of the whole set up and demand Fiona stands down. She hangs on at the time of writing this, but she is unlikely to survive the weekend.

What this all reveals shocks everybody outside Westminster and will have a profound political knock on effect. It demonstrates that these two women, while together a powerhouse of achievement all should admire individually, like the Establishment of which they are vital component parts, when it comes to judging what torments victims of child abuse and drives opinion outside their charmed and pampered circle, have not got a clue. The shambles of the setting up of the child abuse inquiry is becoming as big a story as the appalling revelations of the abuse itself. The Home Office appears as a dishonest fixer. Make no mistake there is going to be a price to pay for this.

Talking of Public Inquiries, where is Chilcot? Don’t worry; like everything else it is probably being fixed.