THE government was urged to hand over all relevant papers to the child abuse inquiry yesterday after a damning leaked document revealed MI5 and Margaret Thatcher’s administration colluded in a cover-up.

The files show that former MI5 director-general Sir Antony Duff wrote to the then cabinet secretary Sir Robert Armstrong in 1986 over allegations made by two sources regarding an MP “who had a penchant for little boys.”

But Mr Duff warned that “the risks of political embarrassment to the government is rather greater than the security danger,” discounting the child abuse risk.