A prospective parliamentary candidate has been commended for his campaign for an inquiry into historic child sex abuse.

Zac Goldsmith, standing for the Conservatives in the Richmond Park constituency, led a cross-party group which called for the historic incidents to be uncovered and subsequently, Theresa May, former Home Secretary, agreed to establish an independent panel.

The panel was set up to investigate wide-ranging claims of child abuse and to examine why important documents disappeared.

Mr Goldsmith was presented with a political Change Opinion award for his campaign on March 17.

Mr Goldsmith said: "I’m pleased to be awarded this prize, although in truth there are many others who could have claimed it, not least the survivors themselves.

"Even though there’s much more to be done, we have seen real progress.

"Survivors are now being listened to for the first time, and their evidence about VIP abuse rings and consequent cover ups is being taken seriously."