The probe into an alleged paedophile network at the heart of the British Establishment took an explosive turn last night with the revelation that Enoch Powell ’ s name has been passed to police . The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the late Tory MP , one of the most prominent and divisive politicians of the 20th Century , has been named to Scotland Yard by the Bishop of Durham . The claims relate to ‘ ritual satanic abuse ’ . And in a further development to the sex-ring investigations , police are to be given access to secret files held on MPs in the House of Commons archives as they hunt for evidence on suspected abusers , including former Liberal MP Cyril Smith . Scroll down for video . Historic : Enoch Powell 's name was first linked to sex abuse claims in the 1980s . The Bishop of Durham , Paul Butler , contacted police after Powell ’ s name was passed to him by a former Bishop of Monmouth , Dominic Walker , who first heard the allegation when he was a vicar counselling young adults in the 1980s . The claim is being examined by Operation Fenbridge , one of a number of police probes into ‘ Establishment paedophile rings ’ – including an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission into claims that officers dropped their inquiries under pressure from powerful individuals . A Church of England spokesman said : ‘ The name of Enoch Powell was passed to Operation Fenbridge by one of our safeguarding team on the instruction of Bishop Paul Butler . ' Mr Walker is believed to have warned the Right Rev Butler that at the time he was told of the claims against Powell , unsubstantiated allegations of satanic rituals – often involving the abuse of children – were widespread . In 1994 , an investigation by the London School of Economics into 84 alleged cases of ‘ satanic abuse ’ in the UK between 1987 and 1992 , including notorious cases in Rochdale and the Orkneys that involved social workers and police forcibly removing children from their homes in dawn raids , found no convincing corroborative evidence . Report : Paul Butler , the Bishop of Durham , passed the name to Scotland Yard after hearing it from the former Bishop of Monmouth . However , the ongoing scandal over how serial paedophile Jimmy Savile was able to evade detection for decades has led institutions to take a safety-first approach , so the Church felt it had no option but to pass on the information to police . Enoch Powell ’ s frontline political career ended abruptly in 1968 after he made his infamous ‘ rivers of blood ’ speech warning about the dangers of uncontrolled immigration . Tory leader Edward Heath sacked him from the Shadow Cabinet the following day , although Powell remained an MP until 1974 . Shortly after he died in 1998 , aged 85 , it was revealed he had admitted to a friend , Canon Eric James , that love poetry he had written as a youth had been intended for a man – but that he did not want the fact revealed while he was alive . Although Powell became a hero of the Right , his intellectual and oratorical skills earned him admirers on both sides of the political divide . A devout member of the Church of England , he had two daughters with his wife Pamela . Sources close to one of Scotland Yard ’ s sex-ring investigations say officers contacted Lawrence Ward , the Commons Serjeant at Arms – the Commons ’ most senior security official – earlier this month to ask him to search the files kept on all MPs . It is understood that no information was uncovered implicating MPs in abuse , sparking fears at Scotland Yard that some of the evidence might have been shredded . Now Mr Ward is believed to have told officers that , if they produce a warrant , they can enter the Commons to investigate the files themselves on a ‘ case by case basis ’ . Last night , Simon Heffer , Powell ’ s official biographer and former confidante , branded the allegations ‘ absolute nonsense ’ and without foundation .
Bishop of Durham Paul scandal names late Tory politician to Scotland Yard . Former Bishop of Monmouth , Dominic Walker , heard allegations in 1980s . Claim being examined by bishop Fenbridge - one of several such allegations . Simon ##bridge , bishop ’ s official biographer , branded him ' traitor ’