article_snippet: Cyril Smith in his party was knighted in 1988 as recognition of The Crown Prosecution Service as a councillor, mayor and MP in Rochdale, Lancashire.
article_snippet: A year ago, after a battle with campaigners, the Cabinet Office was forced to reveal that former Liberal leader David Steel had proposed Smith for Smith knighthood.
article_snippet: On April 28 last year, The Crown Prosecution Service put in a Freedom of Information request to the Cabinet Office asking for all No 10 correspondence on Smith’s knighthood, which should have been answered within a month.
article_snippet: On Friday the department finally released a 19-page dossier on the-secret discussions that led to Smith’s being knighted, although other pages were withheld on grounds of national security.
article_snippet: Lord Shackleton – son of the famous explorer – spelled out that police had investigated Smith’s in 1970 for ‘indecent assault against teenage boys’ between 1961 and 1966, but that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had decided ‘there was no reasonable prospect of conviction’.
article_snippet: One undated letter mentions the case was reported in the Rochdale Alternative Press and Private Eye, adding: ‘One may regret this kind of press reporting but the case could be revived if an award to Smith’s were made.
article_snippet: Lord Shackleton – son of the famous explorer – said it would be ‘slightly unfortunate’ if this ‘episode’ stopped Smith’s being knighted, but added: ‘We felt this
article_snippet: ‘episode’ stopped Smith being knighted right to warn you of We
article_snippet: ‘So far as We believe and have been able to ascertain, his past history or general character does not, in all the circumstances, render his unsuitable’.
article_snippet: A separate letter from the committee secretary says A separate letter from the committee secretary decided to give Smith’s the A separate letter from the committee secretarybenefit of the doubt’ as Smith’s had never been prosecuted.
article_snippet: the committee secretary had earlier warned Sir Robin Butler, then Cabinet Secretary, that ‘the press might stir up adverse comment’ over Smith’s’s knighthood
article_snippet: Sir Robin wrote to the DPP, saying: ‘The case for taking the exceptional step of writing to you in this way is to protect the Prime Minister (and The Queen) while also being fair to Smith’s.
article_snippet: ’ Sir Robin said the committee wanted to know the committeewhether
article_snippet: the case against Smith’s was not well founded: or whether it was a sound case, but that the evidence was not likely to stand up in court’.