Equality watchdog suspends inquiry into EHRC chairwoman Baroness Falkner

Britain’s equality watchdog has suspended its £120,000 investigation into its harassed boss after trans activists harassed her for publicly advocating women-only spaces.

Baroness Falkner de Margravine, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), had been subjected to ‘vile abuse’, having been the subject of a large number of complaints from officials alleging ‘bullying’, ‘transphobia’ and ‘harassment’.

It comes after the 68-year-old called for a change in the law to uphold women-only spaces, urging ministers to update the definition of “sex”. in the 2010 Equality Act to make it clear that it refers to biological sex rather than gender self-identification.

Her plea led trans activists to launch a “witch hunt” against her, bombarding the EHRC with complaints, with the watchdog shelling out £120,000 of taxpayers’ money to pay an independent lawyer to investigate the claims.

But the investigation plunged the watchdog into a crisis, driving a wedge between its leaders and officials tasked with implementing its decisions to uphold the equality law, and sparked protests across the political spectrum since it came to light on Tuesday.

Amid mounting backlash, the EHRC said today: ‘This investigation has been paused. This is while we seek legal advice on the impact of the leaked confidential information. We must ensure its integrity and that it is fair to all parties involved.”

The move comes hours after 54 peers from all parties, including Lord Frost, Baron Roberts and Baroness Jenkin, backed the EHRC chief, saying she had been “irresponsibly attacked”.

Lord Strasberger added that she had been attacked for “shaking up the EHRC” and Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne said she was being subjected to “a witch hunt” for standing up for women.

Separately, an EHRC spokesperson said: “The Board has full confidence in CEO Marcial Boo and is working closely with him and the executive leadership team to manage this fast-moving and sensitive situation.”

The Mail revealed that the employees compiled a dossier of more than 40 vague complaints against him, alleging transphobia, bullying and harassment.

The dossier lamented “the lack of psychological security, that is, the fear of who will be attacked next” and the workers were “concerned that the commission is becoming an unsafe place to work.”

Other whistleblowers were said to have taken offense when someone rolled their eyes. While another alleged Baroness Falkner had described Emma Laslett, a transgender contestant was at the center of a BBC Radio 4 row for being included in a ‘women only final’, as a ‘guy with lipstick’.

But the sources said the “ideologically motivated” complaints did not follow the correct procedures, instead compiling a “super complaint” of hundreds of pages.

The move saw top lawyer Gavin Mansfield KC recruited to investigate, costing taxpayers more than £120,000, while the chairman was left to fend for himself.

But Baroness Falkner has reportedly been forced to use ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ of her savings and pension to fend off the ‘witch hunt’, with the equality chief already shelling out more than £30,000 .

An EHRC member said: “She gets no financial support from you, while the organization has appointed a KC at enormous cost, that’s money that could be spent protecting people against discrimination.”

A source close to the Baroness said she had to draw on her savings and pension to cover legal bills.

The source added that friends fear for the Baroness’s health, saying: “The impact has been devastating.” She is sucking all the energy out of her and causing her an untold amount of stress.

“We are all very concerned about how much weight she has lost and how often we see her upset and tearful.”

Since news of the allegations against the Baroness broke, she has seen a surge of support.

This week, more than 50 colleagues accused Channel 4 of delivering an ‘unbalanced and biased’ news report covering the allegations against Baroness Falkner.

MPs strongly ‘condemned’ the show for launching an ‘irresponsible attack’ on Baroness Kishwer Falkner and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

In a scathing letter to Ofcom and Channel 4, they accused the show this week of being ‘complicit’ in an attempt by staff to oust the chairman and undermine the board.

Critics have already accused Channel 4 of left-wing bias over Tuesday’s report on what it said was evidence of a toxic culture at the EHRC and “dismay” in Baroness Falkner’s leadership.

He used actors and silhouettes to quote several anonymous current and former employees, one of whom called the situation “heartbreaking” and another who said staff often cried.

The show also cited documents saying the president’s “unacceptable behavior” had been “normalized” while staff were being intimidated.

In the damning letter, the MPs said: ‘As a cross-party peer group, we write in the strongest terms to condemn the piece.

“In the context of an ongoing investigation, Channel 4’s intervention breached both Section 5 of the Broadcasting Code (Due Fairness and Due Accuracy) and Section 7 (Fairness).”

The letter acknowledged that the current situation at EHRC would likely be ‘toxic’ due to the sensitive debate on women’s rights, sex and gender.

But he went on to say that given “fiercely held views,” a national broadcaster should “at least try to provide both sides of the argument.”

“Instead, in our opinion, viewers were treated to a piece so unbalanced that it potentially reached the point of prejudice.

‘Channel 4 will no doubt try to defend themselves by saying that they spoke to more than 20 former and current members of staff; however, this means little when all these staff members seemed to have the exact same views,’ he said.

A Channel 4 News spokesman said: ‘We respect our report from the independent inquiry into Lady Falkner and culture at the EHRC.

“Lady Falkner was given the opportunity to appear on the show and that invitation remains open.”