FIONA Woolf's role as head of the historic child abuse inquiry is again under threat today with the prospect of a recall to give more evidence to MPs about the extent and nature of her links with former Home Secretary Leon Brittan and his wife.

Keith Vaz, the Labour Chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said in correspondence with it Mrs Woolf, the Edinburgh-born Lord Mayor of London, tried to play down her connection with the Tory peer, who denies failing to act on a dossier of paedophilia allegations he received as Home Secretary in the 1980s.

A letter Mrs Woolf wrote to Home Secretary Theresa May stated she had no social contact with Lord and Lady Brittan since April 23 2013. Yet a photograph subsequently emerged showing her chatting to Lady Brittan last October at a prize-giving event.