Thread by @docrussjackson

Britain’s equality watchdog, the Equality & Human Rights Commission (#EHRC), is supposed to be independent.

This #THREAD will show it isn't.

It's been “captured” politically & made a “tool of the culture wars”, with an agenda “based on what is useful to the Conservative Govt”.

Since 2020, experienced staff have been raising concerns about the ##EHRC’s independence, & forty of them made complaints, including bullying & harassment, about the Chair, Kishwer Falkner.

Consequently, staff are now wrongly demonised as "woke", & are now leaving in droves.

The media narrative, encouraged by the Board & the Govt, is partisan & reductive, & means Falkner cannot lose - if the investigation clears her, it will be portrayed as a victory against the “woke”. If she is not, she'll be portrayed as a victim.

They always use this playbook.

Predictably, it was the Daily Mail who set the media framing by revealing the investigation into Falkner & claiming she is the victim of a 'witch hunt', quoting unnamed sources who claimed the complaints were “ideologically motivated” because she is “the woman breaking woke”.

While there are some internal concerns about the handling of trans issues, #EHRC sources insist that those had been wrongly – and in their view deliberately – conflated with the allegations against the chair, many of which had nothing whatsoever to do with trans issues.

“We’re being called 'trans activists' to overshadow what this is all about. Of course we have major concerns about the EHRC's positions on trans [issues]... but it’s much bigger than that.” They said the wider problem was “a lack of independence, impartiality” in the EHRC’s work.

Under Falkner, the power of the 12-person board had been concentrated “to take forward whichever agenda they wish to take forward. It does extend beyond trans rights/women’s rights issues – eg there have been issues around how they’ve handled complaints of race discrimination.”

“The governance issues are about the Board taking complete control & completely changing the way that the organisation operates... The way the board is operating now is more like a private-sector organisation where there’s an enormous amount of power concentrated in the chair.”

“And she (Falkner) and others – but mostly her – are overstepping and getting involved in things that are properly the role of the senior management team and chief executive. It’s really worrying.”

Other staff described the commission as having been “captured” politically and made a “tool of the culture wars”, with an agenda “based on what is useful to the Conservative government” - a pattern we see repeated across "independent" Commissions.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1565448209488646149?s=20

At one of her first meetings, Falkner is said to have described Liz Truss, who appointed her when she was women and equalities minister, as her 'boss', despite the #EHRC supposedly being an independent body.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1562410418253041664?s=20

The concerns about the #EHRC's independence from Government go back to those expressed about the commission’s independence when Falkner and others were appointed in 2020.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1288255585356570624?s=20

At the time, Truss said the new commissioners would 'drive forward the government’s agenda', prompting a warning from the previous chair, David Isaac, that the supposedly independent #EHRC was being undermined by political pressure.

theguardian.com/society/2021/j…

As well as Falkner, who has opposed attempts to define Islamophobia as it risked perpetuating a “narrative of victimhood”, there were other controversial appointments.

In 2019, Falkner chaired a discussion at the controversial right-wing think-tank, the Henry Jackson Society.

I've written numerous threads about the Henry Jackson Society, which acts as a hub for many of the most reactionary, regressive, anti-woke free-market extremists in the UK & beyond.

See, for example:

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1603168484342476800?s=20

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1608128692395425793?s=20

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1603168492768792578?s=20

The discussion at the Henry Jackson Society event, about 'Social & Economic Integration of British Muslim Women', featured three other speakers, one of which is highly partisan & controversial HJS 'extremism' researcher, Emma Fox.

Another speaker at the event was Nimco Ali, who is now godmother to the son of Boris Johnson & Carrie Johnson, & who in 2019 endorsed Johnson as a "real feminist". During the 2019 general election, Ali campaigned on behalf of the Conservatives.

The final speaker at the Henry Jackson Society event Chaired by Falkner was Iram Ramzan, who now makes a decent living writing provocative & predictable anti-left, anti-woke, & anti-BBC articles in the Mail, which often mobilise her ethnicity to downplay racism.

Another highly controversial appointment to the #EHRC Board was David Goodhart, head of immigration & integration at the right-wing think tank Policy Exchange (formerly headed by ex-BBC Chair Richard Sharp) who supported “hostile environment” policies.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1351284802222231554?s=20

Goodhart is on Toby Young's reactionary "Free Speech Union" ‘Advisory Council’, & he features prominently in a 2021 #thread revealing Andrew Neil's connections to the Orbán regime, in which he attended an event sponsored by Orbán's #propaganda wing.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1387338288785154049?s=20

Another controversial appointment who pushes the "victimhood" narrative, was Jessica Butcher, daughter of late Tory MP John Butcher, who said in a 2018 TedTalk: “Feminism, like other forms of identity politics, has become obsessed with female victimhood.”

theguardian.com/society/2020/n…

"Independent" Alasdair Henderson, an earlier appointment to the EHRC Board, had “liked” or retweeted social media posts criticising #BlackLivesMatter protesters and describing the words 'misogynist' and 'homophobe' as “highly ideological propaganda terms”.
theguardian.com/society/2020/n…

Alasdair Henderson led the #EHRC inquiry into
@UKLabour antisemitism. He'd also liked a tweet decrying “offence-taking zealots” who accused Roger Scruton of antisemitism, Islamophobia & homophobia, & one by Douglas Murray, who has called for a ban on Muslim immigration to Europe.

The EHRC said at the time it would talk to him about his social media use. He has since been made joint Deputy Chair. Staff say board members are briefing the right-wing press & that the #EHRC has not defended them against the narrative that they are “ultra-woke trans activists”.

The #EHRC was established in 2007, merging the responsibilities of the Commission for Racial Equality, the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Disability Rights Commission, but also charged with enforcing equality laws with respect to other protected characteristics.

Its annual budget has fallen from £70m at its inception to £17m.

It is a non-departmental public body but responsibility for appointing commissioners was granted to the minister for women and equalities under the Equality Act 2006, & has become increasingly politicised.

Other controversial appointments include Pavita Cooper, who was appointed despite making a donation of £3,500 to the Conservative party but on her appointment to the commission in 2018 did not declare any political activity, & Swaran Singh.

theguardian.com/society/2020/n…

The modus operandi around the EHRC is described as being “straight out of the Dominic Cummings playbook”. When the Guardian reported concerns raised by an anonymous former EHRC employee about its stance on race, their name was leaked to Guido Fawkes.

theguardian.com/society/2021/s…

Under questioning from a parliamentary committee, the #EHRC wrongly suggested the Guardian was the source of the leak to the right-wing blog.

committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/2…

Those EHRC staff the Guardian spoke to said that concerns relating to the interventions on trans issues were based on the board ignoring internal advice and not engaging with many of those affected, but were being unfairly portrayed as activism.

One said: “The atmosphere is definitely [that] the board is on one side and the staff and the statutory committees on the other side.”

The independence of the committees for audit and assurance, people and workspace, Scotland and Wales was described as having been curtailed.

Disturbingly, the Guardian was told that several staff members tried to persuade the commission to speak up for the rights of protesters from the anti-monarchist group Republic who were arrested before King Charles’s coronation in May, but were rebuffed.

Ex-EHRC Lord Woolley (2009 - 2012), said: “As a former commissioner, it deeply saddens me that too many people have lost faith in the present EHRC. I think that one of the reasons people have lost faith is that they have seen the commission be politicised as never before.”

“A strong, independent EHRC is desperately needed; sadly there are far too many who don’t see that right now. I desperately hope that it can regain greater independence.”

Further evidence of an absence of independence from Government & the alleged symbiotic relationship between the #EHRC board and the government came from ministers’ reaction to the allegations against Falkner.

Rishi Sunak's spokesperson said the government had “enjoyed a constructive relationship” with Falkner.

Reminiscent of the Govt's defence of Dominic Raab, Kemi Badenoch went further, with the government briefing that she would not allow Falkner to be “hounded from office”.

In the meantime, the investigation is now on pause, while staff fear the allegations are being buried amid the culture-war narrative, and are sceptical they will ever be considered.

Falkner’s allies portrayed the inquiry’s suspension as a victory for her.

In a statement circulated to staff, & also published on the commission’s website, she said many people had offered to pay for her investigation-related costs & had sent her messages of support. Some staff questioned the appropriateness of such a message during the investigation.

A confidential document written by some senior staff in February, obtained by @Channel4News, expressed concern about “an increase in bullying, harassment & discrimination” & “a lack of psychological safety ie the fear of who will be attacked next”.

https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/1661057224507113472?s=20

About Falkner specifically, it said: “Unacceptable behaviour from the chairwoman is becoming normalised. Staff are not treated with courtesy and respect (& are bullied). And notably discriminatory comments/discussions have been openly had with officers present.”

Officially, the investigation has been paused while the #EHRC seeks “legal advice on the impact of leaked confidential information”.

Georgina Calvert-Lee, employment and equality lawyer at Bellevue Law, said while the leaks were unhelpful, “no investigation is perfect”.

“The EHRC should be wary of pausing its investigation for too long, since all parties are best served by having the investigation completed as soon as reasonably possible.”

“Committed, intelligent” staff were leaving the organisation because of the culture. Channel 4 suggested one in four quit last year.

Those who remain are stuck in what one called the “worst atmosphere of anywhere I have worked”.

Another stated: “We’re really just fed up & frustrated. We’re waiting now to see what the outcome is going to be of the investigation – or whether it will happen.”

The Govt has for years made highly partisan & ideologically extreme appointments to supposedly independent bodies.