Fiona Woolf Resigns: Theresa May and David Cameron under Fire Amid Westminster Paedophile Probe Farce
By Jack Blanchard
Furious victims’ groups tonight rounded on Theresa May after Fiona Woolf’s resignation left the Westminster child sex abuse inquiry stalled once again. The bungling Tory Home Secretary’s second choice of chairwoman quit over her links to Lord Brittan, a key figure in the probe into an alleged establishment cover-up. Mrs Woolf’s decision following days of pressure is a personal disaster for Mrs May after her first choice of leader, Dame Butler-Sloss, resigned in July because her brother was Attorney General at the time of the sex scandal claims in the 80s. And in another embarrassing move, both David Cameron and George Osborne were today still backing Mrs Woolf, just hours before she quit. Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper ripped into Mrs May over the blunders. She said: “For this to happen once was deeply unfortunate. For it to happen twice is appalling incompetence.”
Mrs Woolf’s resignation means the long-awaited inquiry into claims a paedophile ring was operating in Westminster during Margaret Thatcher’s reign still has no start date – four months after being launched by Mrs May. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood head, Peter Saunders, said: “The Government have got to get a grip and they’ve got to talk to us about the way forward, because it’s too important to get it wrong again. “Thank goodness Fiona Woolf has finally done the honourable thing.” The Children’s Society’s chief executive Matthew Reed said: “This critical inquiry has already been delayed twice. “The victims and survivors of child sexual abuse have waited too long to get the justice they deserve.”
Mrs Woolf’s position became untenable once victims’ groups made clear they had no confidence in her appointment. Home Office staff today held crisis talks with child abuse charities to try and save her. But victims were furious that neither Mrs May nor any of her junior ministers bothered to show up. The groups emerged from the meeting at lunchtime, “unanimous” in their decision that Mrs Woolf was not up to the job. She finally quit at 5pm. But shortly before, Mr Cameron was still publicly supporting her – despite revelations that Whitehall officials had written a letter on her behalf to Mrs May – outlining why she should stay in the post and rehashed it seven times, playing down her links to Lord Brittan. The PM said: “If you look at her background I think she brings experience to the role as head of the panel. What matters is that we’ve got an able person getting on with the inquiry.” Chancellor George Osborne added his weight to the row. He said: “This is not about personalities. This is about getting to the truth of what happened.”
Mrs Woolf, the Lord Mayor of London, tonight insisted her links to Lord Brittan were not the problem. But she accepted once she lost the support of victims’ groups the writing was on the wall. The wealthy lawyer said: “Ultimately what turned the tide was less putting up with the innuendo and negative comment, and more about the victims themselves. "I’m obviously sad that people are not confident in my ability to chair what is a hugely important inquiry impartially.” Mrs May stood by claims she made last week that Mrs Woolf would still have done a good job of chairing the inquiry, despite her friendship with Lord and Lady Brittan
She said: “It is with regret that I accepted Fiona Woolf’s resignation. I believe she would have carried out her duties with integrity, impartiality and to the highest standard.” But critics demanded to know why Mrs May seemed unable to find an inquiry chief who does not have close connections to the people being investigated. Just days after the appointment of Mrs Woolf, it emerged she was a neighbour of the Brittans and met them for coffee and dinner. Lord Brittan was Home Secretary at the time an alleged VIP paedophile ring was operating in Westminster.
A dossier was handed to him at that time detailing some of the alleged crimes. He passed it on to civil servants but no action was taken. The file has since disappeared. The peer was this week was accused of “improper conduct with children” by Labour MP Jim Hood in the Commons using parliamentary privilege. That provoked a vehement denial from Lord Brittan of any wrongdoing. He insisted the claim was “without foundation”. Mrs Woolf wrote her letter to Mrs May last month pleading to keep her job after it emerged she had dined with the peer and his wife five times and saw Lady Brittan socially.
But this week it emerged the note had been drafted by lawyers and rewritten seven times by the Home Secretary’s own staff before it was finally sent. Facts were changed and the tone significantly altered to make Mrs Woolf appear more detached from the Brittans. In one example, her letter first stated she was introduced to Lady Brittan “by a mutual acquaintance”. But by the final draft, this had been changed to “a third party”.
Mrs May insisted the rest of the inquiry panel will begin work while the search for a new chief begins. But victims’ groups will be consulted on the choice of leader in advance, and the next candidate will be quizzed by MPs before the appointment is confirmed. The blunder caps a disastrous week for Mrs May after a report on Wednesday revealed the chaos in the immigration system. It said the Home Office has lost 50,000 illegal migrants in the past two years – while backlogs for new asylum cases have soared 70%. And a paper revealed one in six foreign crooks living here have absconded. Tory Mrs May had been seen as a safe pair of hands but questions are now mounting about her competence.
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