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He said that Paddy Ashdown was "not the only parliamentary party member whose secretary was valued for more than her typing skills", while another MP entertained "two attractive boys" in a "dodgy backstreet club" instead of attending a party event.

He recalled Smith as a "viciously mean bully", who used his "grotesque physical size" as a "form of intimidation".

However Lord Steel, the former Liberal leader, admitted last year that he had been aware of Cyril Smith's "unusual behaviour with boys" since 1979 but accepted his denials of wrongdoing.

In 1979 the Rochdale Alternative Press, a local magazine, published details of Smiths abuse at Cambridge House. A spokesman for Lord Steel, then leader of the Liberal Party: "All he seems to have done is spanked a few bare bottoms."

Mr Wilson said: "Was there a deliberate, cynical cover-up by the leadership? I am a believer in the cock-up theory of politics rather than the conspiracy one.

"I think they got the biggest spade they could find, dug the biggest hole in the sand they could manage, and buried their collective heads in it, hoping the rumours were unfounded or that it would all go away. In other words, it was cowardice rather than conspiracy."

Read more:
Liberals had too many 'guilty secrets' of their own to confront Cyril Smith