Posted by: Max Farquar
on October 23, 2012
Guest post by Ben Fellows – Former Child Actor
It seems nowadays that everyone in the
public eye is attempting to suppress the press and media. It seems that
the rich and powerful are quick to take drastic legal actions when
stories in the press don’t suit their public image. From sports
personalities, celebrities and actors to politician’s indiscretions.
From ‘super-dupa’ court injunctions
which prevent you from even thinking about telling someone’s story. To
famous and influential people and their representatives making dodgy
deals with the media, arranging not to run certain stories about their
indiscretions in return for juicer ones about someone else. Jimmy Savile
apparently called newspapers up directly and told them that he wouldn’t
raise money for a particular charity if they ran allegations of
paedophilia about him.
Ben Fellows
So I published a story with a headline
that ran ‘I RAN THE GAUNTLET OF PEDOPHILES IN THE ENTERTAINMENT
INDUSTRY’, SAYS FORMER CHILD ACTOR’. In the article I mention that
during my time working on the ‘Cash For Questions’ story for The Cook
Report, Ken Clarke groped my penis with his hand whilst in a political
lobbyist’s office. Now, he thought I was fifteen years old at the time.
It was an unpleasant incident for me which lasted no more than a few
seconds. After the incident I told a number of The Cook Report staff
about the groping and we left it at that, as they would have to discuss
whether or not they could even include the footage in the programme.
So when the publisher of 21st Century
Wire received an email from the Cabinet Office yesterday evening – let’s
say that I for one wasn’t surprised. The email protested Kenneth
Clarke’s innocence so vehemently that it was even denying things that
Ken Clarke had never been accused of – at least not by me.
Kathryn Laing, Special Advisor to Kenneth Clarke in the Cabinet Office said :
Please Could you remove the comments about Ken Clarke from the following posts on your website : HYPERLINK http://21stcenturywire.com/ and HYPERLINK http://21stcenturywire.com/2012/10/11/i-ran-the-gauntlet-of-pedophiles-in-the-entertainment-industry-says-former-child-actor/
Kathryn goes onto say …
The comments are a complete fabrication and highly defamatory. Mr Clarke has never been involved in any incidents of this kind. He was not involved in Cash for Questions – at the time he was a Minister and therefore could not ask questions. He is firmly heterosexual. Like most parliamentarians he vaguely knew Ian Greer but had no dealings with him. The most charitable interpretation is that it is a case of mistaken identity
She finishes off with a standard legal threat against the 21st Century Wire :
If the comments are not removed Mr Clarke will need to consider legal action
Ken Clarke
For the record – my
allegation is that Ken Clarke touched my penis over my trousers when he
had been told I was fifteen years old. I was actually nearer eighteen
but was playing the part of a fifteen year old for The Cook Report.
Incidentally Kathryn on Ken’s behalf states that Kenneth wasn’t involved
in “Cash for Questions”. Well I never said he was or that he had
‘dealings’ with Ian Greer.
I have no idea why he was in Greer’s
office. I was just a kid delivering a “dirty deal” message to Ian Greer
for the TV programme. That’s it. The point is that Ken Clarke was in Ian
Greer’s office and that’s when I met him. I’ve also never questioned
his sexuality or his friendship with Ian Greer or lack thereof. Of
course Ken is clearly getting a little desperate and his advisors don’t
seem to be able to come up with an adequate plan to deal with the
situation. So they are trying to say that I couldn’t recognise him or
that it wasn’t him – a case of mistaken identity? Please, I know what
Ken Clarke looks like and Ian Greer even introduced him as Ken Clarke.
This series of articles began as a story
about child abuse and paedophilia in the wider entrainment industry and
not just the BBC. However, having been interviewed by The Times
journalist Jack Malvern, a senior features writer, only to have the
story dropped by the Murdoch’s because I’d named someone who is fronting
their Christmas schedule this year. Just to remind you that the
Newsnight programme was pulled for exactly the same reasons by the BBC.
Now, we’re moving into the centre of
government, exposing a cabinet minister for groping what he thought was a
fifteen year old boy’s genitals. To discovering that politicians think
that if they write a letter asking for the news to be changed that
editors and publishers will actually do it. This of course proves
without a shadow of a doubt that we no longer have a free press. If
indeed that’s what editors and publishers do on receiving one of these
emails from the Cabinet Office.
Ministers affecting or even attempting
to affect the news is a very dangerous place to be. When you allow
anyone to suppress, edit or spike a news story you turn from being a
democracy into a dictatorship. It really is that simple. The question is
where does it end? One day it might be suppressing an incident of
groping a teenager … tomorrow it could be suppressing the reason why we
are going to a war.
The press’ job in a democracy is to question and bring to task people who are attempting to pervert our society.
I think John F Kennedy said it best when he said :
No official of my administration, whether his rank his high or low, civilian or military should interpret my words here tonight as a reason to censor the news to stifle dissent to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and public the facts they deserve to know
Is Ken Clarke really threatening our
democracy by sending this email asking for a publisher to censor
himself? Probably not. But we are certainly going down a very slippery
slope.
Ben Fellows
.Links :
I Ran The Gauntlet Of Paedophiles In The Entertainment Industry
Murdoch Newspaper Does A BBC To Protect Paedophiles
I’ve Named Names But They’ve Buried My Story
Sex Abuse Rife At BBC Says Ben Fellows