LONDON — A British politician publicly acknowledged Tuesday that he has been accused of raping and murdering children as part of a VIP pedophile ring operating within the Houses of Parliament.

Harvey Proctor, a former Conservative Member of Parliament, said police questioned him this week over allegations that he strangled, beat and sexually assaulted young boys in the 1980s along with former Prime Minister Ted Heath, and Leon Brittan, a protégé of Margaret Thatcher.

He said the allegations, which include threatening to castrate one child with a penknife, are “ludicrous.” The claims made by a man who cannot be named for legal reasons have previously been described as credible+ by senior Scotland Yard detectives.

Proctor, whose political career ended after an under-age sex scandal in 1986, said his accuser should be stripped of his anonymity and forced to testify in public. He claimed he was innocent of all the allegations and described himself as the victim of a “homosexual witch hunt” carried out by paranoid police officers.

“I am a homosexual. I am not a murderer, a pedophile or a pederast,” Proctor said at a press conference in Central London.

Reading from a list of allegations in a disclosure form given to him by police officers, he said that some of the country’s most powerful men were also alleged to have taken part in the abuse including Maurice Oldfield, the former head of MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence service, and Michael Hanley, the former director general of the domestic intelligence service, MI5.

Scotland Yard detectives, who also searched his home earlier this year, have interviewed Proctor, 68, on two occasions. He has not been charged with any offense or placed on bail.

Before reading out some of the appalling allegations, Proctor, whose voice cracked with emotion, said: “Anyone of a delicate or nervous disposition should leave the room.”

He said the allegations made by “Nick” included stripping and tying a boy to a table before stabbing him repeatedly over the course of 40 minutes. Proctor was also accused of strangling a boy until his body went limp.

It was also claimed that he threatened to cut off “Nick”s genitals, but was dissuaded from doing so by former prime minister Ted Heath.

Proctor continued to read from the disclosure form: “He states Mr. Proctor abused him on a number of occasions which included sexual assault, buggery and torturous assault. He also states Mr. Proctor was present when he was assaulted by other adult males. Furthermore Nick states he witnessed the murder of three young boys on separate occasions. He states Mr. Proctor was directly responsible for two of the allegations and implicated in the third.”

In December last year, Scotland Yard held a briefing in which they said “Nick” had been interviewed by child abuse experts who found his testimony to be compelling. Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald, who leads Operation Midland’s investigation of historic child abuse base in Westminster, said at the time: “I believe what Nick is saying to be credible and true.”

It was claimed that a high-profile cadre of politicians and senior intelligence officials had colluded to systematically rape and assault children between the ages of seven and 16 at abuse parties at the homes of politicians.

"The paranoid police have pursued a homosexual witch hunt on this issue egged on by a motley crew of certain sections of the media and press and a number of Labour Members of Parliament and a ragbag of Internet fantasists," he said.

He said Operation Midland should be shut down and Detective Superintendent McDonald should resign. He also called for the resignation of Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, whom he said had presided over Scotland Yard while it leaked his name to the press during the raid on his home.

"The police involved in Operation Midland are in a cleft stick of their own making," he said. "They are in a quandary. Support the 'victim' however ludicrous his allegations or own up that they got it disastrously wrong but risk the charge of a cover-up."

He also said the alleged abuse survivors should be described as “claimants” not “victims.”

Scotland Yard declined to comment and reiterated that it would not confirm that Proctor had been interviewed in connection with these allegations.

In May, police officers disclosed that they were investigating allegations against 76 politicians and almost 250 “persons of public prominence” after hundreds of witnesses came forward to give evidence of historic sex abuse against children.