Fiona Woolf's position at the helm of a historic child abuse inquiry suffered a major blow today after Nick Clegg distanced himself from her appointment.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the decision to pick Mrs Woolf, the Lord Mayor of London, had been made after “an extensive process and recommendation” by Home Secretary Theresa May.
His words threatened to further undermine Mrs Woolf’s position, which was also questioned by senior Labour figures.
Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron added: “This is Theresa May’s appointment and again it looks like she has picked someone whose independence can be seriously questioned.”
In a sign of a growing Coalition rift, Lib-Dem MP John Leech called for Mrs Woolf to stand down.
The inquiry is meant to determine why politicians and public officials failed to prevent a series of child abuse scandals over recent decades. Former Home Secretary Lord Brittan has denied failing to act on dossier of abuse allegations when he was running the Home Office in the Eighties.
Downing Street said David Cameron had full confidence in Mrs Woolf despite her admission that she had attended two dinner parties at the Tory peer’s home and hosted him and his wife on three further occasions.
But shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna told LBC radio: “If she was a judge presiding over a trial where she had these kind of links to one of the protagonists, I’m not sure she would be able to hear the trial.”
