UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Peter Walker, Harriet Sherwood and Sandra Laville
Friday 5 August 2016
The chair of the Commons home affairs committee has asked Dame Lowell Goddard to appear before MPs to explain her sudden resignation as chair of the public inquiry into institutional child abuse, the third person to quit the role in little over two years.
Keith Vaz said he had written to the New Zealand judge, who announced her resignation on Thursday night, to ask whether she would appear before the committee when parliament returns “to help us in determining what is going to happen in the future”.
The Labour MP told Sky News: “She is someone with impeccable credentials, so this is a big shock that she chooses to resign now. I think what’s really important is that we find out the reasons why she has decided to take this course of action.”
Vaz said he wanted to know more about the reasons behind the departure of Goddard, whose resignation statement said the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, set up in 2014, was beset with a “legacy of failure”.
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