Richard Lutz tries to make sense of the child abuse inquiry fiasco

When protecting vulnerable children, it is a shame that it has been reduced to a sad political bunfight. But that is what it has become. And to reduce it even further, it once again shows up the London/non-London dichotomy in all its shabby glory, all its horror.

Two candidates to head the UK inquiry into historic child sex abuse (read Saville, Harris… and more to come) have had to stand down because they had ties to former Home Secretary Leon Brittan. It was under his watch many decades ago that crucial sex scandal files went missing. Shall we say, it is all a bit mysterious for the present.

But this weekend Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on a live interview made a slip illustrating why this inquiry is such a mess. She said it was time that a new chairman of the inquiry should come “from outside Britain.” Then she realised her mistake and corrected herself to “outside London.”

And there is the rub.

Yvette Cooper

Of course the capital has a great deal of the intellectual and network goodies. We know that. But it is such a tight circle (proven somewhat by the fact that the two former candiidates Fiona Woolf and Elizabeth Butler-Sloss had social ties to Mr Brittan). London to them IS Britain. As it is, sadly for Ms Cooper who is actually a Yorkshire MP with roots in Scotland. But after her correction, she has a point. And an obvious one.

Woolf: connections

The new chair should come from outside the metrocentral ring. There are needle-sharp barristers, social work specialists, academics and civil servants from Sheffield, Birmingham or Cardiff who do not have the connectivity to Westminster and, as outsiders, could really run this inquiry; an inquiry that is so important to protect the security of vulnerable boys and girls.

Current home secretary Theresa May will make a statement tomorrow (Monday) about the next step in this bumbling procedure. Maybe she will look beyond Westminster, beyond London, beyond the M25 to find someone who will deal with the matter judiciously, fairly and, crucially, without ties.