British Prime Minister David Cameron says anyone who helps expose senior politicians and police officers guilty of historic child sex abuse should be protected from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act.
It's alleged London's Metropolitan Police protected high-profile pedophiles from the 1970s to the 2000s including an abuse ring linked to the possible 1979 murder of Martin Allen, 15, whose father worked for Australia's high commissioner.
Former detectives this week claimed that the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith was protected for decades despite being linked to child-sex parties.
Senior officers allegedly demanded investigators' files and warned them not to talk about the case under threat of being charged under the Official Secrets Act.
Mr Cameron on Wednesday was asked about the scandal with Liberal MP Duncan Hames suggesting "high-level corruption ... went to the very core of the British state".
"We will do everything we can to get to the bottom of what happened," Mr Cameron told parliament.
"Anyone who is worried about whether people will be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act for coming forward with information should be reassured by the reassurances that have been given by the attorney-general and the home secretary.
"It's in everybody's interest we get absolutely to the bottom of what happened and if people should be punished for their failures, they should be."
Labour MP Tom Watson believes there are more cover-ups "yet to be revealed".
The campaigning politician on Wednesday demanded the prime minister give a "cast-iron guarantee" that former public officials be given full whistleblower protections.
There are three investigations underway into child sex abuse in the UK.
New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard is in charge of a statutory independent inquiry into institutional failings, the Met's Operation Fairbank is examining claims a VIP pedophile ring with Westminster links operated in the 1970s and 1980s and, finally, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is looking at 14 claims that officers participated in and covered up abuse between 1970 and 2005.
In response to Mr Watson, the prime minister on Wednesday noted that Justice Goddard was "perfectly able" to ask Attorney-General Jeremy Wright to ensure no-one giving evidence incriminated themselves "and I'm sure that will happen".
In relation to the IPCC inquiry, Mr Cameron said Home Secretary Theresa May had given "very clear guidance".
He added that when it came to speaking to the media the attorney-general had already said it was "highly unlikely it would ever be in the public interest for someone who revealed wrongdoing to be subject to prosecution".
"I'm absolutely clear I don't want to see anyone prosecuted for uncovering wrongdoing in this way," the prime minister concluded.
Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher was made aware of abuse allegations against Cyril Smith dating back to the early 1960s before he was knighted in 1988.
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