UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Wednesday 21 January 2015
The troubled official inquiry into child sex abuse has come a step closer to its early demise with its legal counsel, the leading human rights lawyer Ben Emmerson QC, being summoned by MPs to clarify his call for the removal of one of its members.
The move by Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, comes a day after the panel member, Sharon Evans, a child abuse survivor, said Emmerson had “bullied and intimidated” her.
Emmerson reacted to her allegations, made during a committee evidence session on Tuesday, by pointing out her complaints had already been investigated by the Home Office and dismissed as unfounded. He also claimed that Evans, as a member of the inquiry, had repeatedly disclosed confidential information and made a number of factually misleading public statements.
His defence was supported by a statement signed by the remaining seven panel members expressing full confidence in Emmerson’s integrity and rejecting any suggestions that they had been intimidated.
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