Fresh Scandal Over Historical Sex Abuse Inquiry

Fiona Woolf, the new inquiry head, is accused of trying to play down her links to Lord Brittan by rewriting a letter seven times.

23:15, UK, Thursday 30 October 2014

The head of an official inquiry into historical child sex abuse is under renewed pressure over her links to a Tory grandee at the centre of cover-up allegations.

Fiona Woolf has faced calls to resign over her familiarity with former home secretary Lord Brittan, who denies failing to act on a dossier of paedophilia claims he received while in office in the 1980s.
But Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz claims a letter Mrs Woolf wrote to Home Secretary Theresa May was rewritten, with Home Office assistance, seven times to downplay her links to Lord and Lady Brittan.
Mr Vaz said: "It is extraordinary that Mrs Woolf did not even write the first draft of her letter which was supposed to detail her own personal experiences.

Lord Brittan denies acting on the dossier of paedophilia allegations

"The letter then underwent seven drafts with a multiplicity of editors. The final version gave a sense of greater detachment between Lord and Lady Brittan and Mrs Woolf than her previous attempts."
As well as dining with the Brittans at home five times, Mrs Woolf has met Lady Brittan for coffee, sat on a prize-giving panel with her, and sponsored her £50 for a fun run.

 

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It has also been revealed that Mrs Woolf lived on the same London street as Lord Brittan for a decade.
In her written explanation, Mrs Woolf had claimed she had no "social contact" with the Brittans since 23 April last year - but a photograph has surfaced showing her chatting to Lady Brittan at a prize-giving last October.
Commenting on the photograph, Mrs Woolf said she did not recall having any "substantial interaction" with Lady Brittan that night.
Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who has campaigned on the issue of child sexual abuse, accused the Home Office of "colluding in covering up" Mrs Woolf's links with the Brittans.
He added on LBC Radio: "I think she should go now, it is the final nail, I don't think she will be able to survive this."
Mrs Woolf was appointed last month to chair the inquiry, which was launched earlier this year to examine whether alleged abuse by politicians and other powerful figures between the 1970s and 1990s was swept under the carpet.
The first person appointed to lead the investigation, Baroness Butler-Sloss, had to quit because her late brother, Lord Havers, was attorney general during much of the period in question.
Mr Vaz said: "The lessons of the Butler-Sloss appointment and resignation have not been learned."

 

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The Labour MP added that his committee would decide next week whether Mrs Woolf should be recalled to give further evidence.
Mrs Woolf has insisted her panel will be "thorough, will pull no punches and show no favours".
And the Home Office said it remained confident in Mrs Woolf and her panel.
"Fiona Woolf wrote to the Home Secretary to disclose anything she thought might cast doubt on her impartiality as chairman of the independent panel inquiry into child sexual abuse," a Home Office spokesman said.
"Her letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee further demonstrates her commitment to openness and transparency in the course of her duties.
"The panel inquiry was established in order to determine the extent to which institutions have taken seriously their duty of care towards children, and recent reports into child abuse in Rotherham and Greater Manchester demonstrate the importance of this work."
But Alison Millar, a solicitor representing alleged abuse victims, has called for her to be replaced.
"The full extent of her relationship with Lord and Lady Brittan, which is still not entirely clear, only slowly unravels through these draft letters sent between Mrs Woolf and the Home Office," said Ms Millar.