Tory minister from Thatcher era faces arrest over allegations of child sex abuse

A former top Conservative minister who served in prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s governments is facing arrest in the new year over allegations of child sex abuse.

A police investigation, titled Operation Fernbridge, has been under way for some time into charges that leading figures in British society were involved in a paedophile ring in the 1970s and 1980s.

Two people have already been arrested, including a Catholic priest, over allegations that a ring of abusers moved around to several care homes.

Disgraced BBC broadcaster Jimmy Savile is believed to have attended some of the parties, along with several men who were subsequently jailed for child sex abuse.

Detectives have already seized videotape from a 1980s London party where boys were brought to be raped. It clearly identifies a politician of the era.