One of David Cameron's aides - who helped the Prime Minister shape policy to get rid of images of child abuse on the internet - has been arrested, over allegations relating to child abuse images.
Patrick Rock, who has known the PM for 30 years, was brought in to work in Number 10's policy unit and formed part of the team who looked into internet filters that would help stem child abuse images from spreading online.
Last night Downing Street confirmed that he has been arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) - and that he'd resigned from his position. The arrest, which happened in February, came to light as press officers close to Cameron insisted they'd gone to great lengths to make sure that as soon as they were made aware of the alleged offence, they allowed for specialists to scour their systems for any evidence. Downing Street had 'arranged for officers to come into Number 10 [to] have access to all IT systems and offices they considered relevant', said a spokesperson.
David Cameron isn't saying much about the issue, telling the BBC: 'This is an ongoing investigation so it would not be appropriate to comment further, but the prime minister believes that child abuse imagery is abhorrent [no duh] and that anyone involved with it should be properly dealt with under the law.'
This isn't the first link of late to be made between politicians and alleged paedophiles. Harriet Harman has been subject to much criticism over the past few weeks after refusing to apologise for links between the National Association For Civil Liberties (NACL) and the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), back in the 1970s and 1980s when she was on the board at the NACL.
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Picture: Steve Back / Barcroft Media
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.