Baroness Butler-Sloss is the wrong person to chair the child abuse inquiry

Some have questioned the appointment of Baroness Butler-Sloss because she is too much part of the establishment or (this from Keith Vaz) because she is a member of the House of Lords.

However, there is a more fundamental reason why she should not have been appointed. She is the sister of the former Attorney General (and briefly Lord Chancellor) Sir Michael Havers MP.

As Havers was in office during the 1980s, the period that is likely to come under scrutiny in the inquiry, it is hard to see how she is not compromised by this family relationship. There are, of course, no questions about her personal integrity.

In fact it is worse than that, as a post on Spotlight on Abuse shows. There are serious questions over Havers' actions in connection with Sir Peter Hayman, Elm Guest House and Geoffrey Prime.

This gives me a chance to praise the Spotlight on Abuse site, which has been posting old newspaper articles on child abuse and showing that many of the scandals in this week's headlines were reported decades ago.