ABSTRACT
For intelligent people in positions of power to reach all too readily for generalist dismissals of conspiracy theories raises our legitimate suspicion of their motives for doing so. To dismiss legitimate questions about VIP paedophile rings as being a ridiculous 'conspiracy theory' is a tactic of denial on offer to some more than others in society. The important distinction between logical and illogical analysis of claimed conspiracies is warranted in our case because British political culture has been very secretive about sex until very recently. At the centre of the coy tradition has been the high rate of gay and bisexual politicians in Westminster. In early August 2015, a story broke suddenly about an ex-British prime minister being an alleged paedophile. The alternative versions of Ted Heath: gentle, harmless, celibate and asexual from his friends and hagiographers, or a scheming serial offender against children implicated in murder from Shrimpton, or a sad old gay man from a local brothel-keeper.
