THE head of a high-profile Government probe into historic child abuse has resigned after victims told her they had no confidence in her inquiry.
Edinburgh-born Fiona Woolf stood down after weeks of controversy over her links to former Conservative Home Secretary Lord Brittan. He is likely to be quizzed by the inquiry about allegations he ignored child abuse allegations in the 1980s.
Mrs Woolf, 66, came under pressure after it emerged she lives on the same street as Lord Brittan and he has been to dinner parties at her house. Yesterday victims' representatives issued a unanimous call for her to be replaced following a meeting with the inquiry panel.
Mrs Woolf announced her resignation hours later, saying it had been clear to her for some time that she did not have the confidence of the victims and it was right for her to "get out of the way".
"It has been brewing for some time," she said.
"Ever since the issue first arose I have been worrying about the negative perceptions and there has been a lot of negative comment and innuendo and that has got in the way as well.
"I was determined that the inquiry got to the bottom of the issues and if I don't command their confidence to run the panel fairly and impartially then I need to get out of the way."
She added:"I made my decision a few days back and warned the Home Office of it."
Home Secretary Theresa May said she had accepted Mrs Woolf's resignation "with regret".
She added: "I believe she would have carried out her duties with integrity, impartiality and to the highest standard."
The Coalition Government has stood behind Mrs Woolf in recent days. Yesterday No 10 emphasised the need for the inquiry, due to produce an interim report in March, to start work.
In the wake of Mrs Woolf's resignation, Labour leader Ed Miliband called on Mrs May to explain why "basic background checks" were not carried out before she was appointed to lead the inquiry.
These would have revealed the lawyers' links with Lord Brittan, he said.
"It seems inexplicable … that some basic questions were not asked of Fiona Woolf before she was appointed about her connections," he said.
Lord Brittan denies claims he failed to act on a dossier of paedophilia allegations he received while in office three decades ago.
Earlier this week it emerged a letter to MPs setting out Mrs Woolf's contacts with Lord Brittan and his wife had been redrafted a total of seven times, with guidance from Home Office officials.
The chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Keith Vaz welcomed Mrs Woolf's resignation.
Alison Millar, head of the abuse team at Leigh Day solicitors, which represents victims, said: "We are pleased that Fiona Woolf has stepped down and now the work begins for a proper inquiry which listens to the survivors and supports them in giving their evidence to an experienced panel.
"The terms of reference must be based on the needs of survivors and must cover the scale of abuse which is slowly coming to light across the UK."
The current lord mayor of the City of London, Mrs Woolf's background is as a leading tax lawyer who has also served as president of the Law Society.
As well as her links with Lord Brittan, victims' groups had expressed concerns that someone with no background in child protection issues would lead such an important inquiry.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article