Former Liberal leader Lord Steel resigns from party after report says he "abdicated responsibility" in recommending Cyril Smith for knighthood

Former leader of the Liberal Democrats, David Steel, 81, has resigned from the party and withdrawn from the House of Lords after a damning report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse accused him of “abdicating his responsibility” when recommending former Rochdale MP Cyril Smith for a knighthood – despite Smith facing allegations of child sexual abuse.

The 173-page report into allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster was published on Tuesday 25 February, concluding that political parties, police and prosecutors “turned a blind eye” to accusations of abuse connected to parliament and government.

Speaking under oath at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in 2019, Steel said he discussed the allegations with Smith in 1979 after reading an article in Private Eye, which claimed Smith had abused boys at Rochdale’s Cambridge House Hostel when he was a Labour MP.

For decades throughout his career, Smith was the subject of repeated sex abuse claims. He was knighted in 1988, and died in 2010 aged 82, having never faced prosecution.

Steel told the Inquiry that the allegations had arisen before Cyril Smith had become a member of the Liberal Party and he saw “no reason, or no locus to go back to something that had happened during his time as councillor,” dismissing Smith’s actions as “nothing to do with me.”

Smith had said that the story was correct – that he had been investigated by the police at the time and that no further action had been taken. Lord Steel added that he had taken no further action because the report referred to events before Smith was even a member of the Liberal Party.

The report says: “This failure to recognise the risk that Cyril Smith potentially posed to children was an abdication of responsibility by a political leader and an example of a highly placed politician turning a blind eye to something that was potentially troublesome to his party, with no apparent regard for criminal acts which might have occurred or for any victims, past or future.

“It had everything to do with Lord Steel as leader of the Liberal Party for which Cyril Smith was Rochdale’s MP in 1979. The mere fact that the offences were not recent and were committed before Smith became an MP or before he was a member of the Liberal Party was an irrelevance and did not begin to relieve Lord Steel of a responsibility as Party leader to inquire further.”

Steel also told the Inquiry he did not discuss the allegations with anyone else and did not see a need to seek advice before admitting he nominated the politician for a knighthood.

Steel recommended Smith for a knighthood without confronting him to ask if he was still committing offences against boys, and told the Inquiry he had no reason to.

Responding, the report says: “He had every reason to do so. He assumed from his conversation with him in 1979 that Smith had committed criminal offences involving child sexual abuse. The Political Honours Scrutiny Committee, which considered the 1970 police investigation and the various press articles, concluded it was open to the Prime Minister to recommend Smith for a knighthood. There was little further investigation into the allegations against him by the committee.

“Had Lord Steel’s assumption that Smith had committed the offences been communicated to the committee, they may well have come to a different view about whether the Prime Minister should recommend Smith for a knighthood.”

In 2018, Steel described the child sex abuse allegations against Smith as “tittle tattle” which he said during the inquiry referred to former Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk’s book about Smith, ‘Smile for the Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith’, co-authored with Matthew Baker.

In 2019, Steel was suspended by the Liberal Democrats over comments he had made about Smith to the Inquiry, but was later reinstated just two months later.

The Liberal Democrats have confirmed that Steel has resigned.

A spokesperson for the party said: “Cyril Smith’s acts were vile and repugnant. We have nothing but sympathy for those who lives he ruined.

“The Liberal Democrats take the issue of vigilance and safeguarding seriously and constantly work to improve our party processes, including the introduction of a new complaints process last year.

“This Inquiry has set out a list of important recommendations which all institutions should take seriously and seek to learn from.”

Lord Steel could not be reached for comment.