MPs Voted Against a Motion to Protect Whistleblowers Who Had Information on Historic Child Sex Abuse Cases.
The Official Secrets Act has long been a problematic piece of legislation that has stopped whistleblowers who have information on historic child sex abuse cases, coming forward to give their testimony and statement. The act in its current form means that anyone who has information about historic child sex abuse cases could face prosecution under the official secrets act if they came forward as a witness.
On the 23rd February 2015, Labour MP John Mann put forward a proposal to amend The Official Secrets Act by adding the following:
New clause 2—Official Secrets Act 1989 (additional defence)—
(1) The Official Secrets Act 1989 is amended as follows—
(2) After section 8, insert—
“(8A) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under any provision of this Act to prove that he knew, or had reasonable cause to believe, that the information, document or article disclosed was—
(a) germane to an official investigation of, or inquiry into, historic child abuse, and
(b) provided only to an officer of such an investigation or inquiry.
Unfortunately, MPs voted against this amendment and as such The Official Secrets Act remained unedited.
While this is fairly old news, it was underwhelmingly reported by the mainstream media. Since Free & Fearless are currently investigating and reporting on historic child sex abuse cases in the UK, we felt that it was important to highlight this vote again and specifically shine a light on the MPs who are protecting paedophiles by not allowing this amendment to pass through the house.
An official record of the vote can be found here: New Clause 2 — Official Secrets Act 1989 (additional defence)
AYES: 233
Conservative: 8
John Baron
Guto Bebb
Peter Bone
Sir Peter Bottomley
Zac Goldsmith
Philip Hollobone
Jeremy Lefroy
Charlotte Leslie
Liberal Democrats: 3
Duncan Hames
John Hemming
Tessa Munt
Labour: 207
Diane Abbott
Debbie Abrahams
Bob Ainsworth
Rushanara Ali
Graham Allen
David Anderson
Jonathan Ashworth
Adrian Bailey
William Bain
Ed Balls
Kevin Barron
Sir Hugh Bayley
Margaret Beckett
Hilary Benn
Luciana Berger
Clive Betts
Hazel Blears
Tom Blenkinsop
Paul Blomfield
David Blunkett
Ben Bradshaw
Kevin Brennan
Nicholas Brown
Russell Brown
Chris Bryant
Karen Buck
Andy Burnham
Liam Byrne
Alan Campbell
Ronnie Campbell
Martin Caton
Jenny Chapman
Vernon Coaker
Ann Coffey
Michael Connarty
Rosie Cooper
Yvette Cooper
Jeremy Corbyn
David Crausby
Mary Creagh
Stella Creasy
Jon Cruddas
John Cryer
Alex Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
Sir Tony Cunningham
Nic Dakin
Simon Danczuk
Alistair Darling
Wayne David
Ian Davidson
Geraint Davies
Gloria De Piero
Thomas Docherty
Brian Donohoe
Frank Doran
Jim Dowd
Gemma Doyle
Jack Dromey
Michael Dugher
Angela Eagle
Maria Eagle
Clive Efford
Julie Elliott
Louise Ellman
Chris Evans
Jim Fitzpatrick
Robert Flello
Caroline Flint
Paul Flynn
Yvonne Fovargue
Hywel Francis
Mike Gapes
Barry Gardiner
Pat Glass
Mary Glindon
Helen Goodman
Tom Greatrex
Kate Green
Lillian Greenwood
Nia Griffith
Andrew Gwynne
Peter Hain
David Hamilton
Fabian Hamilton
David Hanson
Harriet Harman
Tom Harris
Dai Havard
John Healey
David Heyes
Meg Hillier
Julie Hilling
Margaret Hodge
Sharon Hodgson
Kate Hoey
Jim Hood
Kelvin Hopkins
George Howarth
Tristram Hunt
Huw Irranca-Davies
Glenda Jackson
Sian James
Dan Jarvis
Alan Johnson
Diana Johnson
Graham Jones
Kevan Jones
Susan Elan Jones
Dame Tessa Jowell
Mike Kane
Sir Gerald Kaufman
Liz Kendall
Sadiq Khan
Ian Lavery
Mark Lazarowicz
Chris Leslie
Emma Lewell-Buck
Ivan Lewis
Andrew Love
Ian Lucas
Fiona Mactaggart
Khalid Mahmood
Seema Malhotra
John Mann
Gordon Marsden
Steve McCabe
Michael McCann
Kerry McCarthy
Siobhain McDonagh
Andy McDonald
John McDonnell
Pat McFadden
Alison McGovern
Dame Anne McGuire
Liz McInnes
Ann McKechin
Iain McKenzie
Sir Alan Meale
Ian Mearns
Edward Miliband
Andrew Miller
Austin Mitchell
Madeleine Moon
Jessica Morden
Graeme Morrice
Grahame M. Morris
George Mudie
Meg Munn
Paul Murphy
Lisa Nandy
Pamela Nash
Fiona O’Donnell
Chi Onwurah
Sandra Osborne
Albert Owen
Teresa Pearce
Toby Perkins
Bridget Phillipson
Stephen Pound
Lucy Powell
Yasmin Qureshi
Steve Reed
Emma Reynolds
John Robertson
Mr Geoffrey Robinson
Steve Rotheram
Mr Frank Roy
Dame Joan Ruddock
Anas Sarwar
Andy Sawford
Alison Seabeck
Virendra Sharma
Barry Sheerman
Gavin Shuker
Dennis Skinner
Andy Slaughter
Andrew Smith
Angela Smith
Nick Smith
Owen Smith
John Spellar
Graham Stringer
Gisela Stuart
Gerry Sutcliffe
Mark Tami
Emily Thornberry
Stephen Timms
Jon Trickett
Karl Turner
Derek Twigg
Stephen Twigg
Chuka Umunna
Valerie Vaz
Joan Walley
Tom Watson
Dave Watts
Alan Whitehead
Chris Williamson
Phil Wilson
David Winnick
Rosie Winterton
Mike Wood
John Woodcock
Shaun Woodward
David Wright
Iain Wright
Green: 1
Caroline Lucas
Democratic Unionist: 4
Jeffrey Donaldson
William McCrea
Jim Shannon
Sammy Wilson
Social Democratic and Labour Party: 2
Mark Durkan
Margaret Ritchie
Plaid Cymru: 2
Jonathan Edwards
Elfyn Llwyd
Scottish National Party: 4
Angus MacNeil
Angus Robertson
Mike Weir
Edith Whiteford
UK Independence Party: 2
Douglas Carswell
Mark Reckless
NOES: 295
Conservative: 254
Nigel Adams
Adam Afriyie
Peter Aldous
Sir David Amess
Stuart Andrew
James Arbuthnot
Richard Bacon
Steve Baker
Sir Tony Baldry
Harriett Baldwin
Stephen Barclay
Gregory Barker
Gavin Barwell
Henry Bellingham
Richard Benyon
Sir Paul Beresford
Jake Berry
Andrew Bingham
Bob Blackman
Nicola Blackwood
Crispin Blunt
Nick Boles
Karen Bradley
Graham Brady
Julian Brazier
Andrew Bridgen
Steve Brine
James Brokenshire
Fiona Bruce
Robert Buckland
Aidan Burley
Conor Burns
Simon Burns
David Burrowes
Alistair Burt
Dan Byles
Alun Cairns
Neil Carmichael
Sir William Cash
Rehman Chishti
Christopher Chope
Greg Clark
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Therese Coffey
Damian Collins
Oliver Colvile
Geoffrey Cox
Stephen Crabb
Tracey Crouch
David T. C. Davies
Glyn Davies
Nick de Bois
Caroline Dinenage
Nadine Dorries
Jackie Doyle-Price
Richard Drax
Sir Alan Duncan
Iain Duncan Smith
Philip Dunne
Michael Ellis
Jane Ellison
Tobias Ellwood
Charlie Elphicke
George Eustice
Graham Evans
Jonathan Evans
Nigel Evans
David Evennett
Michael Fabricant
Michael Fallon
Mark Field
Liam Fox
Mr Mark Francois
Mike Freer
Richard Fuller
Sir Roger Gale
Sir Edward Garnier
Mark Garnier
Mr David Gauke
Mr Nick Gibb
Cheryl Gillan
John Glen
Robert Goodwill
Richard Graham
Helen Grant
James Gray
Damian Green
Justine Greening
Dominic Grieve
Ben Gummer
Sam Gyimah
Robert Halfon
Stephen Hammond
Matthew Hancock
Greg Hands
Mark Harper
Richard Harrington
Rebecca Harris
Simon Hart
Sir Alan Haselhurst
John Hayes
Sir Oliver Heald
Chris Heaton-Harris
Gordon Henderson
Charles Hendry
Nick Herbert
Damian Hinds
Mark Hoban
George Hollingbery
Sir Gerald Howarth
John Howell
Jeremy Hunt
Nick Hurd
Stewart Jackson
Margot James
Sajid Javid
Bernard Jenkin
Robert Jenrick
Gareth Johnson
Joseph Johnson
Andrew Jones
David Jones
Marcus Jones
Chris Kelly
Simon Kirby
Sir Greg Knight
Kwasi Kwarteng
Mark Lancaster
Pauline Latham
Andrea Leadsom
Jessica Lee
Phillip Lee
Oliver Letwin
Brandon Lewis
Julian Lewis
Ian Liddell-Grainger
David Lidington
Peter Lilley
Jack Lopresti
Tim Loughton
Sir Peter Luff
Karen Lumley
Theresa May
Jason McCartney
Karl McCartney
Anne McIntosh
Patrick McLoughlin
Stephen McPartland
Mark Menzies
Stephen Metcalfe
Maria Miller
Nigel Mills
Anne Milton
Andrew Mitchell
Penny Mordaunt
Nicky Morgan
Anne Marie Morris
David Morris
James Morris
Stephen Mosley
David Mowat
David Mundell
Sheryll Murray
Andrew Murrison
Robert Neill
Brooks Newmark
Sarah Newton
Caroline Nokes
Jesse Norman
David Nuttall
Stephen O’Brien
Matthew Offord
Eric Ollerenshaw
Guy Opperman
Sir Richard Ottaway
Sir James Paice
Neil Parish
Priti Patel
Mark Pawsey
Mike Penning
John Penrose
Andrew Percy
Claire Perry
Stephen Phillips
Eric Pickles
Christopher Pincher
Daniel Poulter
Mark Prisk
Mark Pritchard
Dominic Raab
Sir John Randall
John Redwood
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Simon Reevell
Andrew Robathan
Sir Hugh Robertson
Andrew Rosindell
Amber Rudd
David Ruffley
David Rutley
Laura Sandys
Lee Scott
Andrew Selous
Grant Shapps
Alok Sharma
Alec Shelbrooke
Mark Simmonds
Keith Simpson
Chris Skidmore
Chloe Smith
Henry Smith
Julian Smith
Sir Nicholas Soames
Anna Soubry
Caroline Spelman
Andrew Stephenson
Bob Stewart
Iain Stewart
Rory Stewart
Gary Streeter
Mel Stride
Graham Stuart
Julian Sturdy
Desmond Swayne
Hugo Swire
Robert Syms
Edward Timpson
Justin Tomlinson
David Tredinnick
Andrew Turner
Andrew Tyrie
Paul Uppal
Edward Vaizey
Shailesh Vara
Martin Vickers
Theresa Villiers
Charles Walker
Robin Walker
Dame Angela Watkinson
Mike Weatherley
James Wharton
Heather Wheeler
Chris White
Craig Whittaker
John Whittingdale
Bill Wiggin
David Willetts
Gavin Williamson
Rob Wilson
Sarah Wollaston
Jeremy Wright
Tim Yeo
Sir George Young
Nadhim Zahawi
Liberal Democrats: 40
Norman Baker
Sir Alan Beith
Gordon Birtwistle
Annette Brooke
Jeremy Browne
Sir Malcolm Bruce
Lorely Burt
Alistair Carmichael
Mike Crockart
Mr Edward Davey
Lynne Featherstone
Don Foster
Andrew George
Stephen Gilbert
Sir Nick Harvey
Martin Horwood
Simon Hughes
Julian Huppert
Charles Kennedy
David Laws
John Leech
Stephen Lloyd
Michael Moore
Greg Mulholland
John Pugh
Alan Reid
Dan Rogerson
Sir Bob Russell
Adrian Sanders
Sir Robert Smith
Sir Andrew Stunell
Ian Swales
Jo Swinson
John Thurso
David Ward
Steve Webb
Mark Williams
Stephen Williams
Jenny Willott
Simon Wright
Independent: 1
Mike Hancock