FORMER Tory MP Sir Teddy Taylor has spoken of hearing rumours of a VIP paedophile ring at the time when he was in the House.

Sir Teddy, long-serving MP for Rochford and Southend East, was in the House the Seventies and Eighties, the time when the paedophile ring is alleged to have been operating in London.

He was speaking after a onetime fellowMP’s home was raided and an Eastwood priest was convicted of child abuse. Last week former Basildon Tory MP Harvey Proctor’s home in Leicestershire was raided by officers investigating the alleged abuse of youngsters at three London locations.

The investigation centres on Grafton Close Children’s Home in Hounslowand Elms Guest House, in Barnes, both in Middlesex, and Dolphin Court, which is close to the Houses of Parliament Among other allegations, it has been claimed three children were murdered and many others abused.

A week earlier Tony McSweeney, 68, former parish priest of St Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Eastwood, was found guilty of indecent assault and three counts of making indecent images of children between 1979 and 1981, after preying on a youngster at Grafton Close.

Sir Teddy, vice-president of the Tory Party’s Monday Club, at a time Mr Proctor was also a highprofile member, said: “When I was in Parliament, I noticed one or two people had pretty nasty things said about them.

“When all this became public, several people said they were aware of something going on, but I would say most people didn’t know anything.

“People in positions of power often ask ‘howcan we keep things quiet?’ but it’s not a good thing to do.

“We heard stories about a little group of people which wasmeant to be meeting. We understand now, but at the time, we didn’t knowwhat was going on.

“It shows it doesn’t do to keep quiet about things. From what I have read, people at the top had knowledge of what was happening.

“For those people who were attacked, it must have been awful. It just shows the importance of keeping everything clean in society and identifying these things quickly.”

He said Mr Proctor had been marked for a bright political future before being forced to resign for having sex with underage boys.

The former MP added: “I didn’t knowHarvey Proctor very well.

“He seemed hard-working, but then we heard all these terrible stories.When youhave these kind of things go wrong, you have to take action right away – and happily, we did in this case.

“There is no excuse for it and the moment it became public, action was taken to remove him from his position.

“He seemed to have quite a future in politics .”

Mr Proctor, who denies having any involvement with the alleged paedophile ring, is yet to