Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, respected judge chair of the Government’s child-abuse review, is taking flak perhaps unfairly over what her brother Sir Michael Havers did 30 years ago. Sir Michael was attorney-general in Mrs Thatcher’s government and was accused of a Cabinet cover-up, refusing to prosecute Sir Peter Hayman, a diplomat and member of the Paedophile Information Exchange.
However, The Londoner recalls another detail from Sir Michael’s past. In 1987 he was fighting on behalf of the Government against the publication of the controversial Spycatcher book, an exposé written by former MI5 officer Peter Wright. Havers tried to get it banned in Australia but Malcolm Turnbull, representing the author and the Australian government, knew in advance what he was going to argue.
How did Turnbull get such good information? Sir Michael, it seems, was not the most watertight of attorney- generals. It is claimed that he was overheard discussing key parts of his argument in the urinals of the Garrick Club. One imagines his sister is not one for a natter in the ladies’.
