Cyril Smith book: An interview with authors Simon Danczuk and Matt Baker

Smile For The Camera - The double life of Cyril Smith

The local launch of ‘Smile for the Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith’, the long-awaited book on the late Cyril Smith by MP Simon Danczuk and his Parliamentary Secretary, Matt Baker was held at Danczuk’s Delicatessen in The Walk yesterday evening (16 April) and was attended by the media, serving and former councillors plus members of the public.

The book has attracted much attention locally and nationally and has been serialised in the Daily Mail. Rochdale Online interviewed the authors:

RO - “Have you been surprised at the interest shown in the book by the national media?”

SD/MB - “Yes. After all, Cyril Smith was a local MP who has now died and much of the information goes back over many decades but there has been an amazing response.”

RO - “What were your motives in writing the book?”

SD/MB - “We wouldn’t have written it had the more recent child grooming scandals not taken place. We felt that there were many similarities in which the cases were mishandled. We thought that in some ways, there needed to be a form of exorcism and that having a paedophile as a former MP did nothing for the image of our town.”

RO - “Does the book contain new information or is it merely a rehashing of old allegations designed to cause maximum embarrassment just prior to the elections?”

SD/MB - “In the book, we try to tie together the whole story of Smith’s activities and we believe that there is new information in there. For instance, we became aware that his activities date back to the 1950s when he worked in a newsagent in Spotland and the first recorded file on concerns about him by the police goes back to 1961. There were no political motives in writing it and the publisher decided on the timing. After all, we are always in between either elections or party conferences.”

RO - “Talking to local people and reading messages on social networking sites, there are still some schools of thought that say that as this man is not here to defend himsel, sleeping dogs should be allowed to lie. How do you respond to this?”

SD/MD - “Yes, the man is dead but we think we need to focus on the victims here. Smith was very well defended throughout his career. This book will not give the victims closure but we, and they, believe that it will help them to move forward.”

RO - “Smith’s earliest known paedophile activities, prior to the revelations about the Spotland newsagents, centre around Cambridge House in the 1960s... he was then an up and coming Labour councillor. Have you interviewed colleagues from this era?”

SD/MB - “Yes we have and also victims and former police officers.”

RO - “In 1979 when RAP, and later on Private Eye, made the initial public disclosure about Smith’s activities, former Liberal Leader, now Lord David Steele famously said, 'All he seems to have done is spank a few bare bottoms'. How far do you think comments like this implied some semi-official tolerance of his activities and even encouraged him to continue with his sordid practices?”

SD/MB - “Smith certainly felt well-protected and this may well have encouraged him to feel that he could get away with it but let’s make this perfectly clear, Smith was able to carry out these acts for three reasons. Firstly, by the sheer force of his personality, secondly that he wielded significant personal and political power and thirdly, that he chose very vulnerable youngsters as his targets.

RO - “We know that an investigation on Smith was carried out by Lancashire Police but that the files were taken by Special Branch from Police HQ in Preston in 1974 and never returned nor their contents disclosed. Have you been able to throw any more light on this?”

SD/MB - “Only that we know it did happen.”

RO - “Do you think it possible that people could still face charges or prosecution in relation to Smith’s activities?”

SD/MB - “Yes, over time.”

RO - “Do you think that Smith should be posthumously stripped of his knighthood?”

SD/MB – “Yes.” (Later, during the launch, Mr Danczuk said, in reply to a question from the floor, that he would be seeking moves to initiate this process when he returned to Parliament.)

RO - “Do you think, in the wake of your revelations and following the various child grooming trials, that Rochdale is a safe place for children?”

SD/MB - “Yes. A lot of work has been done and there is far more collaboration between agencies involved in child protection and with GMP. Agencies feel far more compelled to report issues and concerns and to act upon them. This is also due to pressure from the local population and from media organisations such as Rochdale Online.”

RO - “What effect on you both personally has researching and writing this book had on you?”

SD/MB - “Listening to the tales of victims has been very harrowing in particular. Even forty years on, some have been so traumatised that they still cannot voice the physical details of the abuse the suffered as children and young teenagers. We have been quite affected by this.”

RO - “What do you intend to do with the financial proceeds from the book?”

SD/MB - “Some of it will go to children’s charities.”

‘Smile for the Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith’ is published by Biteback Publishing.