This is turning into a farce - Fiona Woolf must stand aside, writes the Labour MP

Farce: Labour MP Simon Danczuk, pictured,
argues that Mrs Woolfe must stand aside

Fiona Woolf hasn’t even begun work on one of the most important inquiries in years – that of dragging dirty parliamentary secrets out into the open and challenging historic child abuse cover-ups – and she yet commands zero-confidence from abuse survivors across the country.

This story has now become a full-blown farce and is fast turning into a tragedy. It’s been painful listening to Woolf’s hopeless attempts to claim she’s somehow not close to Lord Brittan, who was Home Secretary when Geoffrey Dickens’s dossier of VIP child abuse allegations disappeared.

‘Yes,’ she admits, ‘I live in the same street as Lord Brittan and yes, I go to coffee mornings with Brittan’s wife and yes, I sit on a judging panel with her. And yes, I’ve entertained Lord Brittan in my house on several occasions, but none of this means I’m friendly with him. Of course there’s sufficient distance between me and Lord Brittan to do a thorough investigation.’

She must think the public are fools. Over the last few years, I’ve spoken to many victims of child sex abuse. This week I spoke again to some of them. Their views on Woolf were scathing.  (more...)

This is turning into a farce - Fiona Woolf must stand aside, writes the Labour MP