This was not an oversight or a mistake
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission is chaired by David Isaac. He has been in the role since 2016.
Prior to that, he was chair of Stonewall, 2003-2012.
He also had a gig as a trustee of Big Lottery Fund, 2014-2018. They who fund Mermaids.
He is a lawyer with Pinsent Masons. This firm was named by Stonewall as the UK's top LGBT+ employer 2019. Not the first time it has received this award.
Isaac has been named regularly as a top LGBT influencer in the Stonewall awards. Including in 2019.
Isaac was chosen by Nicky Morgan (Education Sec) after having been put forward by a Whitehall select committee. He is a technologies lawyer (no human rights or equalities experience outside Stonewall). He counts the government and the BBC amongst his clients.
He has not given up his personal legal role whilst chairing the EHRC. Questions were asked at the time of his appointment about this potential conflict of interest. Harriet Harman (Parliament's joint Committee on Human Rights) in particular was concerned that he could not avoid conflict with his business interests, and questioned why these interests had not been raised as an issue prior to his appointment.
Chairwoman of the Women and Equalities Committee, Maria Miller said: “The public appointments process needs to command the confidence of members of the public. MPs have been given a central role in scrutinising that decision-making, yet some aspects of this are opaque. In this case the appointments panel did not document any discussion as to how Mr Isaac would balance his role as a senior equity partner in an international law firm with the role of chair of the EHRC despite potential and perceived conflicts of interest and possible issues with the Nolan Principles. Records of further conversations between Mr Isaac and the Cabinet Office were also unavailable to the committee. To scrutinise important appointment decisions House of Commons committees need basic facts. In this case these were not forthcoming. In our report, we recommend that the pre-appointment scrutiny guidelines be reviewed."
They appointed him anyway.
Nobody seems to have questioned his connections with the pressure group Stonewall and whether that might lead him into conflict.
Harriet Harman also said at the time:
"What you should be having for the EHRC is someone who is a champion for human rights … You have to be fearless against the vested interests. The lion’s share of his income will be coming from an organisation that has a vested interest. As they say, ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune’.”
That comment was made with regard to Isaac's business interests. But vested interests aren't necessarily just the money making ones.