The Peer and the Gangster-a very British cover-up:
July 1964, the Sunday Mirror ran a front-page story headlined: PEER AND A GANGSTER: YARD ENQUIRY. While the article withheld the names of the subjects, the newspaper reported that the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police had ordered an investigation into an alleged homosexual relationship between ‘a household name’ from the House of Lords and a leading figure in the London underworld. Lord Boothby was the Conservative lord in question, and Ronnie Kray the infamous gangster.
The report threatened a scandal even more explosive than that of Profumo affair the previous year. yet within a couple of weeks the story had been killed off, vanishing as suddenly as it had appeared. Lord Boothby and the Krays carried on with business as usual [boy pimping, child rape, boy buggery, coprophagia, gay orgies, murder and GBH].
Daniel Smith has carved himself a special place at the journalistic table of acclaim. this is an exceptional & brilliant body of work that lavishes fresh & weltering revelation on a cornerstone of global corruption – sexual blackmail, vice, entrapment, “human compromise operations” & the political prostitution – often coerced by the threat of violence – of boys, often underage. the work’s excellence is not limited to the latter – it also astounds as a graphic account of “establishment cover-up” taken to it’s absolute apogee, & i don’t know if i have ever read such a well documented & consummated optimization on the subject of “kill the story”…The Peer and the Gangster is one of the finest studies of a high-level cover up available.
the book reads with perfect aerodynamics, adroitly written, streamlined & easily absorbed.
Bob Boothby was a Conservative MP. he had also been Winston Chruchill’s right-hand man (incidentally, Ronnie Kray was a huge Chruchill admirer who would play his speeches on vinyl). he was of course an attendee of the British public school system (Eton & Oxford). for a Tory, he was actually remarkably liberal (a “Socialist in Conservative disguise” snided the Daily Mail). known as a “charmer”, he became a “personality” & gained popularity on TV as an affable & charismatic celebrity of sorts. he is credited as being highly effective at manufacturing positive public opinion & endearment through television & radio. he became a lord in 1958, Baron Boothby of Buchan and Rattray Head . he was a “noted supporter of Israel“. his mangled sexuality is a bit of an enigma, but he was clearly predominantly homosexual & a pedarist as well as operating what we might refer to as a reluctant & evidently secondary heterosexuality. for all his suave & avuncular charm, Boothby ate shit, liked males that were underage, & had no problem acquiring unwilling boys from Ronnie Kray who were often vendored to him under the explicit threat of violence. terrified, more than probably, – straight young boys, intimidated into going with old Conservative peers by a gay, schizophrenic paedophile gangster. the swingin’ 60’s indeed.
“rough but compliant East End lads were served like so many canapes”
his association with Ronnie Kray came from all or either of his gambling, business, social intrigue or rent boy habits. for Kray, Boothby became a captured asset in a position of power that would assist his criminal escapades & ambitions when required (which Boothby did on plenty of occassions as the book discloses).
When Boothby published his denials of being a homosexual or of having anything but the most cursory business relations with Ronnie Kray, the Conservative hierarchy – all the way to NO.10 – knew he was lying. When, based on those false denials, Boothby secured a huge financial pay-off from the Mirror and received an unqualified apology on the grounds that ‘any imputation of an improper nature against Lord Boothby is completely unjustified’, the government surely had a moral duty to intercede. instead, there was only silence.”
Ronnie Kray is still given festive treatment. Ronnie Kray was a notorious boy-raper who practiced & relished sadism in his sexual abuse. he particularly enjoyed “breaking boys in” for the first time. it is persistently claimed that he killed at least one boy during “sex play” & had the body disposed of by his minions. he also procured boys (poor, working-class East End boys especially) who he pimped, ‘gifted’ or forced to endure his infamous gay orgies at his flat, often with VIP & “high society” attendees. he was a homosexual child rapist & a complete, utter & total nonce. he later had links & associations with Jimmy Savile, & would of course eventually come under Savile’s aegis during the surreal, insane & implausible (but utterly true) stint that Savile spent as the director of Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital where Kray was then a patient, all thanks to the then Tory Home Secretary Edwina Curry. Kray-Savile-Savile-Kray ….
as the author brilliantly explains, the peer & gangster scandal came just a year after the Profumo affair that saw the Conservative’s Minister of War-John Profumo-resign after having an extra-marital affair with a young (technically underage) showgirl, Christine Keeler, after lying & stringently denying it publicly. prior to that, the Tory’s were up to it again when John Vassal was sentenced to 18 years (but served only 10) for treason (he was passing secrets to the Kremlin) after being “compromised” by homosexual activity in Moscow.
the gist was – there was no way the public’s already frayed sensibilities would tolerate another mountainous dereliction by the Tory Party, especially one as horrific & sick as that of Boothby & Kray. the party was fighting for its survival. every stop had to be seized upon, it was “do or die”.
“In theory & in principle, i deplore such oppression of news, if what is kept out is newsworthy (which my trial perhaps, just marginally, was); but i am bound to admit that when it is something that concerns one personally, the suppression is jolly welcome.” – Tom Driberg
here comes the twist. some will be familiar with yet another appallingly repulsive scum-scrape from the grime of British political history……the awful, the repellent, the disgusting – Tom Drieberg. Driberg was a “raging homo”, sordid, incessant, obsessive incurable. he was one of those deeply unpleasant male homosexuals that hate women. he was also a Kray cavort who enjoyed the homosexual parties & boy trade that Kray operated. Driberg had also been a member of the Communist Party until he was kicked-out on suspicion of being a spy (which he probably was). he was also a very close friend of the occultist Aleister Crowley (“The Wickedest Man in the World”) & practitioner of Thelema, so much so that Crowley is supposed to of appointed Driberg as his successor on his death. Driberg was a writer & columnist & a very shrewd political operative & power broker with a carefully kept favour-bank, which was essential for his political survival (the freak was constantly cottaging & engaging in ceaseless sexual obscenities & lubricious spontaneity). on-top of this gangrenous grot, Driberg had somehow become a Labour MP!
“As a matter of fact,’ Simpson began, ‘there are several cottages in Westminster which we don’t investigate.’ When pressed as to why he said: ‘Because it would be embarrassing, why? Because they are frequented by celebrities and MPs.'”- Sir Joseph Simpson, the then Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police
ergo the twist – Labour could of pounced on the Boothby Kray scandal & sunk the sword into the Conservatives. It could quite literally have been the end of the party for good. but fearing that the scandal would engulf the Labour party also via the vile Tom Driberg, they chose to assist the cover-up!!! even though Labour did not possess the abysmal history of the Tory party (Vassal, Profumo & god knows what else), nor the hypocrisy, they still opted to comply with the suppression & cover-up. establishment solidarity? public school compassion? masonary fraternity? fears for “the social contract”? direct duress form additional entities? a fucking sham of shit.
“‘It was the little man,’ Boothby told Pearson.
‘Little man? What little man?
‘Who d’you think i mean? the little man. Harold Wilson.'”
by combination of outright duplicitousness and what generously might be termed self-deception, the government allowed Boothby to mislead the public and extort a massive pay-out the international publishing company. Where Boothby stated that he was not a homosexual, the government had evidence that this was untrue, and where he denied having met Ronnie Kray other than two business meetings, they knew this to be a lie. yet at no stage did they attempt to intervene in proceedings, instead adopting a policy of passivity and deniability.”
as a result, Kray & Boothby would go on raping boys.
“Driberg revealed that Beaverbrook operated a ‘white list’ of individuals who were not to be mentioned in either the express papers or the Evening Standard.”
Daniel Smith has scoured recently released MI5 documents on the case, & government papers, bolstering his already considerable sources & research that are assembled & dispensed with superb narrative acumen. the hidden activities & deliberately concealed revelations that are divulged & detailed herein are revolutionary in their clarity. this is serious investigative journalism at its best. & for anybody studying the nature of establishment camouflage, evasion & suppression, & wholehearted, all-hands-on-deck (the media, the police, the judiciary, & even rival politicians from opposing political parties) cover-up taken to its shrillest paragon, The Peer and the Gangster is a magnificent achievement. furthermore, the book does of course have huge’ huge implications for the Epstein-Maxwell & Savile-Jaconelli cases that are still unfurling, & much of its research provides a powerful compendium to these twisted & odious examples. It is a vital addition to the likes of Anthony Daly’s Playland/the Abuse of Power, Nick Davies Dark Heart, Simon Danczuk’s Smile for the Camera, Dan Davies In Plain Sight & Alex Renton’s Stiff Upper Lip to name some of the most austere contributions to this extremely troubling topic.
“Some of his happiest times were at the home of Philip Sassoon. Descendent of the Rothschild banking dynasty and cousin of the war poet Siegfried, Sassoon was a key figure in Boothby’s life at this time – ‘for ten years, he shaped my life,’ Boothby would say – and the two may have indeed been lovers. Boothby’s reminisces about life at Sassoon’s Trent Park estate in Hertfordshire gives a taste of the age:
‘To-day it all seems like the dream of another world – the white-coated footmen, Winston Churchill arguing over the tea-cups with Bernard Shaw, Rex Whistler painting alone, an immaculate Sir Samuel Hoare playing tennis with the professional, Osbert Sitwell and Malcolm Bullock laughing in a corner while Philip himself flitted from group to group, an alert, watchful, influential, but unobtrusive stage director.'”
as for the British “fooling arses”, it’s establishment & political parties, this is one of the biggest & most indefensible indictments imaginable. to be honest, it almost couldn’t be worse, & seemingly ticks every imaginable box. like Jimmy Savile, it seems too implausible, & yet there it is. to think that sadistic boy raping sodomites are still celebrated openly & commercially in this country (the most recent big-budget Kray glamorization being Legend) is a twist of tremendously warped insanity. but this confirms the depth of collective brain-damage, persistent perversion & subliminal social grooming of this seriously’ seriously’ seriously mangled society. straighten it out.
“Anyone with any sense, who was in trouble, would come to the whips and tell them the truth, and say now, ‘I’m in a jam, can you help?’. it might be debt, it might be … a scandal involving small boys, or any kind of scandal in which … a member seemed likely to be mixed up in, they’d come and ask if we could help and if we could, we did.” – ex Conservative Chief whip Tim Fortescue.
Jumpin’ Jack Flash-David Litvinoff and the Rock’n’Roll Underworld (Keiron Pim
This is not a full & sedulous review (it will come) of Jumpin’ Jack Flash, but it is a necessary co-defendant to bring into the orbit given the previous attention to The Peer and the Gangster.
published in 2016, this roving, verbose & quirk-sodden mass from Keiron Pim provides a trove of information to the hardcore researcher & also scrutinizes one of the most important yet elusive characters of the construct – David Litvinoff.
first off, the book is essentially a eulogy & the revelations are selective with the intention clearly to aggrandize & revel in the character in question (Litvinoff), who is hailed here as a kind of dapper & risque Jewish folk hero. he certainly was dapper, & quite probably a genius of extraordinary guile, verve, intelligence & cross-advocation artistic sensitivity (seemingly excelling in anything he put his mind towards). he was also a street dude, a hustler, a brilliant thief, a decent scrapper & a kind of rogue ‘fixer’ & unofficial renegade power broker who thrived & shuttled at all levels of the social spectrum, from the top echelons to the gutter, cutting the mustard & holding his own with flair & authenticity wherever he strode. like his associates the Kray twins, he was Jewish, homosexual, & from the East End of London. it also seems very’ very probable that he was a “procurer” of boys, particularly to wealthy clientele. this book is very’ very biased & is blatantly on a mission to cast this fascinating, & in ways – clearly brilliant character – in a strictly positive slant. a lot is missing, withheld, conveniently minimized or ameliorated with skillful & calculated language from the author. the book is a party & is intent only on celebration.
beside the Kray twins, Litvinoff knew & associated with just about every dodgy fucker there was at the time & frequented many of the worst establishments & areas connected with serious vice. Mariella Novotny, the extremely mysterious & sinister Hod Dibben, Tom Driberg, Lord Boothby, Lucien Freud, Kristine Keeler, Stephen Ward, Francis Bacon & many’ many others (the guy was everywhere). he also worked as an “enforcer” for the notorious West London Jewish slum landlord Peter Rachman, helping to evict tenants from the properties by “unconventional means” along with the likes of Peter Rann, Bert Assirati, Freddie Rondel & Michael de Freitas, who would later become Micahel X. it is confirmed here (dropped very casually, & without elaboration) that Litvinoff attended Novotny & Dibben’s notorious sex parties, that are reputed to have also on occasion had strong occult & or/satanic themes. Soho was of course a frequent of his, & a spot for acquiring boys, for himself or others.
“As Nigel Waymouth put it, ‘David was a sexual predator, and he liked to feed his friends.’ He was obsessed and would do whatever he could to curry favour with younger men. he couldn’t help himself. perhaps he didn’t want to help himself. eventually, as ever, he went too far.”
probably the most quoted event of the book is Litvinoff being violently attacked & hung out of a window in Earls Court, ostensibly for sharing the same young male catamite as Ronnie Kray (Bobby Buckley).
with a keen ear for music & ostensibly an excellent dancer, Litvinoff spent a lot of time around musicians & artists, including the Rolling Stones & Eric Clapton. the guy was everywhere. his influence on the Stones (the title Jumpin’ Jack Flash seems to have been derived from him) & other creatives is evident, although he is rarely credited & seemed to be the genius in the background, spurting ideas wherever he went that were sometimes seized. the movie Performance seems to have been shadow produced by Litvinoff, & there is no reason really to doubt that.
the brilliance of Litvinoff’s mind & his abilities is not in question. this was an astonishing character who effused creative & artistic elan & a rapid & playful mind of surfeit inventiveness & imagination. unfortunately, he was involved in dark shit – prostitution, procuring, perhaps trafficking, women but mostly boys & young men. how bad, how extreme & to what scale is not currently clear. this book certainly isn’t telling (at least not directly), but for those that have done their research & know the locations, personnel & cues, masses & masses can be learned from Jumpin’ Jack Flash, & or sure, it ain’t lookin’ good. we need to know more about this guy, & not by someone that wants to airbrush the fucker as a mildly roguish beatnik with astute intellectual vigour.. he was everywhere & he was often in the company & favour of key-offenders.
Keiron Pim, 2016, Vintage, 348 pages
