From The Times article:
The emails also show co-operation with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), another official body with a public stance of neutrality in the transgender debate. In the correspondence, the EHRC appeared to seek trans test cases against schools and service providers.
Stephanie Davies-Arai, of Transgender Trend, a group concerned about the rise in the number of children transitioning, said: “The EHRC has demonstrated clearly that it is not impartial.
“There needs to be a full investigation into the activities of Mermaids and the influence of the transgender lobby on a public body mandated to protect the rights of everyone.”
The EHRC is chaired by David Isaac. He has been in the role since 2016.
Prior to that, he was chair of Stonewall, 2003-2012.
He was also a trustee of Big Lottery Fund, 2014-2018. They fund Mermaids.
He is a lawyer. His firm has been named by Stonewall as the UK's top LGBT+ employer 2019.
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 at the time) after having been put forward by a Whitehall select committee.
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."
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’.”
Sources for the above: Isaac's own profile page and reporting from the Guardian.from 2016
There was much discussion at the time about whether his business interests would put him into conflict. Did anyone ask whether his connections with Stonewall would put him into conflict? There's no suggestion that he is personally involved with the EHRC requests for test cases from Mermaids. However, surely the buck stops with him and his fellow board members. The following is is stated on the EHRC commission and governance web page:
The Board has a strategic oversight role. It does not directly manage the Commission's operations, but delegates that role to the CEO and the Commission’s staff. It holds the CEO and the staff to account by monitoring performance against the Commission’s strategic priorities and ensuring that resources are being used to good effect.