Was Commons Speaker in a sex abuse ring with Janner? Famous for his call of ‘Order, Order’, George Thomas was one of our best-loved MPs. Now he’s accused of vile attacks on boys as young as nine

‘While he never attained high government office, Thomas would eventually acquire lasting celebrity as the most popular Speaker the House of Commons has ever known. His lilting shout of ‘Order, order’ made his voice one of the most famous on radio.

Along the way he even established a close friendship with the Queen Mother and the Prince and Princess of Wales, at whose 1981 wedding he read a lesson.

On his retirement two years later, the working-class socialist was elevated to the hereditary peerage as the 1st Viscount Tonypandy.

After his death he was honoured with a memorial service at Westminster Abbey, attended by Prince Charles — a remarkable journey for a poor boy from the Rhondda.

But throughout Thomas’s adult life, it seems he harboured a dark personal secret; one which he took to his grave. Quite how dark remains the subject of police investigations today, 18 years after his passing was marked by universally reverential obituaries.’

Read more: Was Commons Speaker in a sex abuse ring with Janner? Famous for his call of 'Order, Order', George Thomas was one of our best-loved MPs. Now he's accused of vile attacks on boys as young as nine