New blow for Rudd in row over inquiry
THE Home Secretary last night admitted she had been aware of racism allegations against the ex-chairman of the child abuse inquiry.
Amber Rudd said she was alerted about allegations over Dame Lowell Goddard’s ‘professionalism and competence’ several weeks before she told MPs the judge had quit because she was ‘lonely’.
Miss Rudd was accused of being ‘economical about what she knew’ after the admission, which follows claims of a Home Office cover-up.
She told MPs in September that Dame Lowell had left the inquiry because she felt lonely and ‘a long way from home’.
The beleaguered public inquiry threatened to turn into a political scandal last night as victims called for chairman Alexis Jay to resign as she signalled the probe’s remit will be cut back and its top lawyer, Ben Emmerson QC, was accused of ‘bullying’ behind the scenes.
Hauled before the Commons yesterday, Miss Rudd said it would have been ‘entirely inappropriate’ to tell the home affairs committee about the racism allegations against Dame Lowell.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said Miss Rudd was open to ‘accusations of misleading the committee’, and the SNP’s Stuart McDonald said she may have been ‘economical with what she knew’.
But Miss Rudd defended her original evidence in the Commons yesterday, saying: ‘Dame Lowell had not spoken to me about her reasons, so I relied on the letter she had sent to the committee.
Dame Lowell has strongly refuted the allegations about her and yesterday denied claims she ‘turned to drink’ as the £100million probe spiralled out of control.
She issued a statement through her lawyers. Persephone Bridgman Baker, an associate from libel firm Carter-Ruck, said: ‘Our client has never “turned to drink”, the imputation of which is that she used it either as an escape or as a means of support. Our client has never needed a “chaperone in public” as a result of alcohol intake.’
The judge was at her home east of Wellington. Her husband Christopher Hodson, also a judge, said: ‘She will be saying nothing, she will not be adding anything.’