Will there be a child abuse 'super inquiry'? Ministers warned that allegations are the 'tip of the iceberg'

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  Investigation: Home Secretary Theresa May has announced a new investigation into child abuse in North Wales in the 70s and 80s

  Home Secretary Theresa May announced National Crime Agency investigation into abuse in North Wales children’s home in the 1970s and 80s
  

• She also suggested the Government may launch a wider inquiry into claims senior Tories were involved
• Ex-resident at Bryn Estyn children’s home claims Thatcher aide abused boys

A single wide-ranging judicial inquiry into ‘absolutely horrific’ evidence of systematic child abuse by figures of authority over several decades looked increasingly likely last night.

There were growing cross-party calls for an over-arching investigation as the number of separate probes into allegations of paedophilia at the BBC, care homes and in Whitehall reached double figures.

Home Secretary Theresa May told MPs that the National Crime Agency (NCA) is to mount an investigation into alleged abuse in North Wales in the 1970s and 1980s amid claims that a senior Tory of the day was among the perpetrators.

But she suggested that a single, wider probe was being considered by the Government once initial police inquiries are concluded.

‘I think what is absolutely horrific, frankly, is the extent to which this child abuse has been taking place over the years and across our communities over the years,’ the Home Secretary said.

David Cameron, speaking on a trip to the Middle East, also opened the door to a broader judicial inquiry into the tide of historic child sex abuse allegations which began with revelations about Jimmy Savile’s paedophile activities at the BBC.

‘Let’s find out as quickly as possible whether we have a problem here. If we have a problem here then we have to take further steps,’ the Prime Minister said.

‘I don’t rule out further inquiries,  further investigations, further ways of learning lessons because clearly we’ve discovered some appalling things in recent days, particularly on the Jimmy Savile front.’

On top of the Savile scandal – which has dragged in the NHS and the police – there are increasingly wild allegations of an establishment paedophile ring involving members of the Thatcher government.