Lord Steel corrects the record

David Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, the first presiding officer of the reborn Scottish Parliament, former leader of the Liberal Party, has been suspended from membership by the Scottish Liberal Democrats at the request of Jo Swinson, deputy leader of the federal party. It is the responsibility of the state party to consider what further measures to take.

The cause is the evidence that the Lord Steel gave about Sir Cyril Smith to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. Lord Steel said he asked the late politician in 1979 about claims that he abused boys at a Rochdale hostel, and found they dated back to Smith's time as a Labour councillor in the 1960s. He told the inquiry he came away from the conversation with Smith "assuming" he had committed the offences, because he did not deny them. This contrasted with statements Lord Steel had previously made, implying that he had not given credence to reports of Smith's misdemeanours.

As I always take the opportunity to point out when the name of Cyril Smith comes up, he was not alone in his time on Rochdale council in taking advantage of vulnerable children at the Knowl View establishment. A Conservative councillor and at least one other Labour councillor (Smith was a member of the Labour party at the time) were also involved. They escaped being named and shamed in their lifetimes because they did not rise to the political height which Cyril Smith reached after he became Liberal MP for the borough. Nor does the only indecency which Smith is known to be guilty of, getting a kick from smacking boys' naked bottoms, come close to the outrages which later convictions of paedophiles have revealed. However, all that does not excuse David Steel, believing what he then assumed to be the case, not only failing to take action against Smith but in going further by recommending a knighthood for the man.

In spite of this one black mark, Lord Steel deserves to be remembered not only for his introduction of the humane Abortion Act 1967 but also by restoring faith in the UK economy by sustaining the government of James Callaghan in 1977 and 1978, keeping the militant socialists of the time at bay. Later, he pushed through the merger of the Liberal and Social Democrat parties restoring order after the fall-out from the 1987 general election.