Max Clifford has become the latest public figure to have been arrested as part of Operation Yewtree, the police investigation into the Jimmy Savile sex scandal. BBC News have reported that Scotland Yard confirmed that officers had arrested a man in his 60s “on suspicion of sexual offences” and had taken him to a central police station. He is the sixth person to be arrested as part of Operation Yewtree.

The investigation, launched by the Metropolitan Police, has been divided into three main strands. Firstly, police are looking into allegations of historic sex offences made against Jimmy Savile. Secondly, allegations against Savile and other people. Thirdly, they are looking into sex offences made against other people, unconnected to the investigations into Jimmy Savile. Scotland Yard confirmed that the man arrested today (December 6, 2012) was arrested under the latter stream of investigations. Clifford was reportedly arrested at his home in Surrey at 7:40am, in relation to historic sex offences and was taken to a London police station.

Clifford is considered to be one of the most influential people working in the British media and is often referred to as a ‘PR guru.’ Five people have now been arrested as part of Operation Yewtree and a sixth has been questioned. The response to the news has quickly seen both “Operation Yewtree” and “Max Clifford” become trending topics on Twitter. The blogger Guido Fawkes referred back to a Sky News interview when Clifford said that in the 1960s, people “never asked anybody for a birth certificate,” when it came to sexual relations. 

That Sky News interview with Max Clifford