Head of abuse inquiry position ‘beyond the pale’

The head of the independent inquiry into historic child sex abuse is coming under growing pressure to stand down, as a lawyer representing victims said her social relationship with former home secretary Lord Brittan “puts her beyond the pale in terms of her credibility”.

Fiona Woolf yesterday confirmed she had attended two dinner parties at Lord Brittan’s house and hosted the Tory peer and his wife on three occasions, but insisted she did not have a “close association” with the former cabinet minister.

She told a parliamentary committee scrutinising her appointment that the former home secretary – who has denied failing to act on a dossier of abuse allegations in the 1980s – was “one of thousands” of people she knew in London.

But solicitor Alison Millar, who represents a number of abuse victims whose cases are likely to be raised in the inquiry, said the “general view” among her clients was that Mrs Woolf – the Lord Mayor of the City of London – “really does not have the necessary credibility to lead what is such an important inquiry for them”.

Asked whether Mrs Woolf should step down, Ms Millar told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Yes. I think this evidence of dinner parties with Lord Brittan really puts her beyond the pale in terms of her credibility with my clients.”

Mrs Woolf was appointed in September to chair the independent panel inquiry into UK institutions’ handling of child sex abuse allegations, after the initial nominee Lady Butler-Sloss stepped down over suggestions that she might be called upon to investigate the role of her late brother, former attorney general Lord Havers.

Downing Street has said Prime Minister David Cameron is “confident that Fiona Woolf and the panel will carry out their duties to the high standards of integrity required”.

Ms Millar told Today: “This is not about Fiona Woolf’s ability or her integrity. This is about her independence and her ability to lead this inquiry in a way that is credible to the survivors of abuse whom I represent.

“Somebody who seems to be on dinner party terms with a senior political figure whose knowledge this inquiry will be scrutinising is somebody who from the perspective of my clients does not have the necessary independence.

“The people that I am in contact with because they are my clients, or I am in contact with otherwise, the general view among them is that Fiona Woolf really does not have the necessary credibility to lead what is such an important inquiry for them.”

Corporate lawyer Mrs Woolf, who lives in the same street as Lord Brittan, yesterday released a letter detailing the extent of her social links with the former minister.

She told the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee that, as well as attending dinner parties with Lord Brittan, she had met his wife for coffee, sat on a prize-giving panel with her, and sponsored her £50 for a fun run.

But she described him as “essentially someone who is one of thousands of people who I know in the City”, and insisted there was nothing in the encounters to stop her chairing the wide-ranging probe ordered by Home Secretary Theresa May.

Mrs Woolf appeared unwilling to say Lord and Lady Brittan were not friends, and could not remember whether they were on her 3,000-strong Christmas card list last year. But she said their numbers were not programmed into her mobile phone.

As a newly elected alderman of the City of London Corporation, she had hosted hundreds of dinner parties to “build my City network” at a time when Lord Brittan was a vice-chairman of UBS bank.

Mrs Woolf insisted she did not regard herself as “a member of the establishment”.

“I can understand that there will be people who do not know what the Lord Mayor of London does,” she said. “But as an ordinary solicitor in private practice I really do not think I count as a member of the establishment.”

Mrs Woolf said she had no background in child protection or family law, indicating that she would take a managerial approach to the inquiry.

“I am determined that this inquiry is going to relentlessly uncover the truth for the victims,” she told the MPs.

In a statement to the Commons earlier, Mrs May reiterated her backing for Mrs Woolf. She said she believed the inquiry panel – which will also include Rotherham sex abuse report author Professor Alexis Jay – would “carry out their duties to the highest standards”.

But Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who led the campaign for an inquiry, said Mrs Woolf and Lord Brittan were “clearly good friends” and she should stand down as chairwoman.

Lord Brittan is likely to be called to give evidence to the inquiry over a dossier he received from MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983, documenting the alleged involvement of VIP figures in a child sex ring.

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