The Power of the Paedos - another high profile case hits the 'never happened' wall?

[Jan Klimkowski]

The British establishment's Honours Committee, a notoriously secretive but influential bunch of grandees, knew why Savile shouldn't be knighted.

But Thatcher pushed, bullied and persisted until she had her way.....

Revealed: Lady Thatcher's FIVE attempts to secure knighthood for Jimmy Savile while her aides warned of his strange and complex' life

Tory PM first asked he be made 'Sir' Jimmy in 1984, secret documents show
Civil servants warned her off because of his boasts about his 'lurid' sex life
He was finally knighted in 1990, Lady Thatcher's final year in office

By Martin Robinson

PUBLISHED: 09:57, 17 July 2013 | UPDATED: 12:47, 17 July 2013


Margaret Thatcher made five attempts to get Jimmy Savile knighted while she was prime minister despite aides warning of 'continued misgivings' about his 'strange and complex' private life.

The Iron Lady took six years to get the paedophile star made 'Sir' because civil servants persistently blocked her requests, secret Cabinet Office papers revealed today.

Documents from during Lady Thatcher's time in Downing Street show her advisers had 'worries' about Savile being knighted because of 'unfortunate revelations' about his private life.

Persistent: Margaret Thatcher with Jimmy Saville outside No 10 Downing Street in 1988, as it was revealed she tried five times to get him knighted while prime minister

Savile had boasted about having sex with women he approached at charity events and also how he was violent.


Shamed DJ: Cigar-smoking Jimmy Savile pictured after receiving his knighthood at the Palace in 1990

The new paperwork shows the Tory leader first asked that Savile be knighted in 1984, but mandarins said they were concerned after he spoke to the press about his 'lurid' sex life.

After another attempt was sidelined her private secretary Nigel Wicks wrote to head of the civil service Robert Armstrong to say the prime minister was 'most disappointed', adding: 'She wonders how many more times his name is to be pushed aside. She would therefore like you to consider further the inclusion of his name on the (honours) list'.

Armstrong had earlier warned Wicks that 'the case of Jimmy Savile is complex', because 'he has made no attempt to deny the accounts in the press about his private life'.

After Thatcher recommended him again documents show that it was rejected because of his promiscuity, after aides said that as the government tried to deal with the spread of Aids in the 1980s, honouring him would send out the wrong message.

Another adviser's letter to the PM, published in The Sun today, stated: 'Mr Savile is a strange and complex man.'

It adds: 'Fears have been expressed that Mr Savile might not be able to refrain from exploiting a knighthood in a way which brought the honours system into disrepute.'

Warnings: Lady Thatcher's aides were critical of Jimmy Savile's private life, but the Tory leader insisted his charity work meant he should become 'sir'

Another note, from Mrs Thatcher's then private secretary, repeated the concerns. It added: 'We have again considered the name of Mr Jimmy Savile, whom you have of course considered on previous occasions. We have again concluded that he should not be recommended.'

'She (Lady Thatcher) wonders how many more times his name is to be pushed aside. She would therefore like you to consider further the inclusion of his name on the (honours) list'

- Lady Thatcher's private secretary in letter to head of the civil service

Overall Lady Thatcher was talked out of getting him knighted four times.

The television star was finally knighted for his services to charity in 1990, Lady Thatcher's final year in power.

Letters released last year shows there was a warm relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Jimmy Savile.

The Top Of The Pops presenter sent an adoring letter to the then prime minister in 1980, singing her praises and declaring his love for her.

Correspondence: A handwritten letter from Jimmy Savile in which he declared his 'love' for Margaret Thatcher after being invited to lunch with her was released by the National Archives under the 30-year rule

She responded by inviting the now-disgraced DJ to lunch at Chequers, spending 11 consecutive New Year's Eves with him and finally overseeing his knighthood.

JIMMY SAVILE'S KNIGHTHOOD CAN'T BE REVOKED BECAUSE HE'S DEAD

A constitutional bar preventing the dead from having their knighthoods removed means the government cannot strip Savile of the accolade

Those given a knighthood are awarded lifetime membership to a living order' and the title no longer exists when the holder dies.

The TV host, who died aged 84, was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 1990 - an award which followed the OBE he was given in 1971.

Whitehall sources admitted they considered awarding him a posthumous knighthood so he could then be stripped of it.

The Queen has the power to remove honours after they have been recommended by the forfeiture committee.

Last year Fred Goodwin, former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, was stripped of his knighthood.

Savile raised more than £30 million for good causes, including £12 million to rebuild the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

He died in October 2011, but his grave crimes only came to light the following year.

A report by Scotland Yard and the NSPCC said he DJ spent every waking minute' thinking about abusing children and used his celebrity status to that end.

Eighteen girls and ten boys aged under ten were abused the youngest being a boy of eight targeted at his school.

Allegations of sexual assault have been made by 450 individuals, aged up to 47, and some have yet to be interviewed.

The 214 confirmed offences included 34 rapes and stretch across 28 police force areas. The most recent was in 2009 but they date back as far as 1955.

Of his victims, 73 per cent were children, with youngsters aged as young as eight when they were targeted.

Yesterday the BBC, whose premises were used by Savile for abuse, admitted its soul-searching about why it failed to expose the scandal has so far cost the licence fee payer almost £5million.

The bill for three internal reviews launched after BBC2's Newsnight failed to broadcast allegations of abuse against the DJ and TV presenter includes huge legal fees for senior staff and for consultants employed to black out chunks of a damning report.

The bill currently stands at £4.9 million not including tax and VAT, which is equivalent to the cost of 33,677 licence fees.

The corporation's annual report also revealed pay for senior managers soared by 60 per cent to £4.1million, swollen by controversial golden goodbyes' for bosses forced out over the handling of the Savile affair.