Tessa Munt : Find New Abuse Inquiry Chair from Abroad and Involve Public in Selection

By Caron Lindsay
Liberal Democrat Voice
November 1, 2014

http://www.libdemvoice.org/tessa-munt-find-new-abuse-inquiry-from-abroad-and-involve-public-in-selection-43147.html

To me it had been clear that Fiona Woolf should step down as Chair of the Inquiry into historic sex abuse ever since it became clear that she had been on dinner party terms with Sir Leon Brittain. It’s not that she had done anything wrong, but it was clear at that point that it would be very difficult for everyone to have confidence in her impartiality. Once the victims had said that they didn’t support her continuing in the role, it was only a matter of time before she resigned, as she did this evening.

Back in July, Liberal Democrat MP Tessa Munt revealed that she had been sexually abused as a child. Tonight, she discussed Fiona Woolf’s resignation and what should happen next on Radio 4’s PM programme.

You can listen to discussion on the whole issue here from the start of the broadcast, or go straight to Tessa at 36:50.

Sad it’s come to this, but it might have been anticipated. She supported a lot of things that the previous interviewee, representing the victims, had said.

She was asked where she thought we should go next.

Tessa suggested that the pubic should have a role in choosing the next Chair. She suggested using social media to get potential names and then allowing people to express concerns which could then be investigated before any appointments were made. She said that we shouldn’t entertain the idea of people’s reputations being trashed on Twitter, but if people had serious concerns, they could be looked into. There needed to be a lot more transparency in the process.

She talked about the need to make sure that we find someone, and a process, for this “Leveson of Child Protection” that’s trusted.

Tessa had suggested to Theresa May that she looked to the Commonwealth to see if anyone there would be suitable. She said:

This is something that has gone very, very wrong. We have got a deeply entrenched social problem within our culture. We need to expel this evil and make sure we can start again. We have a Governor of the Bank of England who is a Canadian. Why on earth should we not choose someone from another country who certainly will not be on dinner party terms as was criticised with the previous occupant.

These seem like pretty reasonable suggestions. The one comment I’d make is that the victims’ groups want a Judge in charge who can compel people to give evidence and take action against them if they refuse or tell lies. That would make the pool of potential chairs very small. Would a judge from, say, Canada have the authority under English law to do that?

Also on Radio 4 yesterday, Lord Ken McDonald, Liberal Democrat Peer and Director of Public Prosecutions, said that the opportunity should be taken to review the terms of reference of the Inquiry:

I don’t want to add to the feeding frenzy, but I think the bigger problem here is that this process has all the makings of an inquiry into everything everywhere. It’s looking at the professions, the armed services, the health service, the education system, social services, prisons, the churches, the BBC, political parties. I think expectations are being raised by the breadth of this, but the breadth of it may make it simply undeliverable.