Whistleblowers at EHRC say that Kishwer Falkner is the victim of a 'witch-hunt by trans lobby'

[IwantToRetire]

Relations are said to have soured after she backed legal reforms guarding the rights of biological women in single-sex spaces such as hospital wards and toilets.

The employees at the Equality and Human Rights Commission are said to have compiled a dossier, setting out more than 40 complaints aimed at Baroness Falkner by a dozen current and former colleagues. A source said: 'People within the organisation are deeply concerned that this is a witch-hunt.

'The timing is extremely questionable. There is no doubt in my mind that this is ideologically motivated and is a way to take a scalp in revenge. ...

Baroness Falkner is said to have been left 'heartbroken' by the allegations but those close to her said her 'conscience was clear'. They branded the move by EHRC staff a 'failed coup d'etat'.

Members of the commission's board, which is headed by Baroness Falkner, have called for an overhaul of the 2010 Equality Act, which refers to gender and sex interchangeably.

They argue it should be amended to explicitly define sex as 'biological sex' to bring legal clarity in areas including sport and ensure only 'biological women' can use single-sex spaces.

Staff from the executive team were said to having been pushing to allow for gender self-identification, allowing trans people to state their chosen gender without any medical diagnosis.

A second source said: 'The executive just refused to accept the board's decision. There were strenuous efforts to reject it and it was around this time allegations were starting to be made.

'There is a very progressive, activist-inclined staff who are influenced by organisations and groups like Stonewall.'

The source said senior executives had grown accustomed to calling the shots at the commission but this changed when Baroness Falkner took over to provide 'real leadership'.

They said the complaints felt like a move to 'get her', adding: 'This process of finding fault with Kishwer is clearly political.' The dossier is said to have made claims of discrimination, including transphobia, bullying and harassment. ...

Full story (sorry!) at DM https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12112707/Whistleblowers-human-rights-commission-say-boss-facing-witch-hunt-trans-lobby.html

Wow, that is one hell of a piece, as you say pulls no punches.

They seem to be suggesting that the enquiry will be dropped? If they do I hope they don't just brush under the carpet what these individuals have done, they need to face disciplinary hearings.

The era of intimidation by the extreme trans lobby must end."

It absolutely must, across the board and that includes those who turn up to threaten and intimidate women meeting. It is high time this extremism was cracked down on and those doing it faced criminal and/or disciplinary charges, it has been allowed to go on far, far, too long.

There should be an investigation into the allegations, imo.

Forwarder · Today 21:41

Cheer up everyone. Replies to the complaints against Baroness Kishwer made me laugh anyway.

It's heartening to see that Twatter has suffered an outbreak of reality.

It's a bit of a shame that most of the posters have swallowed the line that Baroness Falkner has said something mean, instead of understanding that she was being critical of the abuse he'd been the recipient of and was merely quoting an example of it.

A fact which C4 must surely, surely have been aware of, when they propagated the lie.

I hope that Baroness Falkner can find the time and energy to sue the lying bastards for libel.

I hope that Baroness Falkner can find the time and energy to sue the lying bastards for libel.

I was only thinking today that somehow it seems wrong she is having to pay for her own defence when (desppite C4 making it public) this is a workplace issue. Are those accusing her also having to pay their own legal costs? I bet not.

So supect that for sometime, as they will make sure this drags on and on so that the EHRC cant contribute to the debate about ammending the EA and with the hope that Labour gets into power.

So not only will she not have the time, but probably not have the money.

🙄

Sorry, I don't know how to do share tokens. From The Telegraph this morning:

"Lords back equality chief over ‘coup’ by transgender activists
Falkner receives support after Channel 4 reports are said to be ‘complicit’ in attempts to undermine her
EWAN SOMERVILLE
LORDS have backed Britain’s equality chief after saying she was the victim of an “irresponsible attack” by Channel 4 in its reporting of an attempted coup by trans-activist civil servants.
Baroness Falkner of Margravine, 68, the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), has received the support of 54 cross-party peers including Lord Frost, Baron Roberts and Labour and Lib Dem members.
In a letter to Ofcom, they took aim at Channel 4 for being “complicit” in attempts to “undermine” the crossbench peer by broadcasting a series of “emotive, one-sided and unsubstantiated” claims against her from more than 20 disgruntled current and former staff members at the quango.
The row centres on a dossier of 40 allegedly vague allegations of “bullying”, “harassment” and “discrimination” drawn up by an unknown number of EHRC civil servants and senior executives about Lady Falkner and the expert commissioners on its decision-making board, with one bemoaning a “lack of psychological safety”.
“‘Viewers were fed a news piece so unbalanced as to potentially reach the point of prejudice’
”
The allegations, being investigated using £100,000 of taxpayer cash by Gavin Mansfield KC, an employment barrister, coincide with Lady Falkner seeking to ensure women are represented in the trans debate since taking over in 2020. The peers said Channel 4 News’s report on Tuesday did not even “attempt to provide both sides of the argument”, with Cathy Newman, the presenter, interviewing a little-known trans activist, Emma Laslett, and Caroline Noakes, a Left-leaning Tory MP, without any voices in support of Lady Falkner.
“Viewers were fed a piece so unbalanced as to potentially reach the point of prejudice,” the letter says, adding that the staff members interviewed in the 10-minute report “appeared to hold exactly the same opinions”. They claimed it breached Ofcom’s code on impartiality and fairness.
Ofcom confirmed it was looking into complaints it has received about the programme to determine whether there is a potential breach of rules that merits a full investigation. A spokesman told The Daily Telegraph: “We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules, before deciding whether or not to investigate.”
The peers claimed that “none of the other EHRC commissioners were approached for comment; nor was there any proper representation of opposing points of view”, nor was there any mention of “the immense amount of abuse Baroness Falkner has been subjected to, both on social media and in real life”.
This included masked trans activists placing bottles of urine outside the EHRC offices in Westminster on May 15, which reportedly led to police erecting a cordon and carrying out a controlled explosion, following months of fury from trans campaign groups at its moves to strengthen single-sex protections in equality law.
Among the peers to have signed the letter are Lord Frost, a former Brexit negotiator, Baron Roberts, a historian, Lord Dobbs, the author of the House of Cards trilogy, Baron Triesman, a Blairite minister, Baroness Thornhill MBE, a Liberal Democrat and Britain’s first female mayor, and Baroness Jenkin, who works with Theresa May to boost female representation in Parliament.
Channel 4 said “we stand by our reporting” and said an “invitation remains open” for Lady Falkner to appear on the programme.
One peer told The Telegraph that the Channel 4 report “clearly has an agenda behind it – silencing women”.
Their letter concludes that it was an “irresponsible attack” on Lady Falkner who has “an outstanding personal record opposing discrimination and prejudice of all kinds”.
It goes on to say: “It is past time that we need frank and public debate on the issues of sex and gender, but it is clear that this piece did nothing to contribute to that, rather it was complicit in promulgating the views of a small group of staff who are clearly seeking to undermine the board and the chairman who has our full support.”"

Good to hear that's in the Telegraph. Channel 4 should be held to account.

Well that's fairly unequivocal!

I agree that the C4 report was nonsense. Glad that Ofcom are looking into balance and accuracy. The Telegraph has completely missed the point here though:

a little-known trans activist, Emma Laslett, and Caroline Noakes, a Left-leaning Tory MP

TRA? Or just a trans person living their lives - I have no idea, but they’re hardly a well known Twitter personality or organiser.
And Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, WTF makes her ‘Left-leaning’?

Once again for the Telegraph at the back, can the wider discussion of this please grow the fuck up and see this not as a left vs right issue.

On the one hand we have TRAs in the EHRC objecting to Lib Dem Falkner as an apparently-government appointed one woman takedown of trans rights (CLEARLY NONSENSE) -the letter she wrote was completely fine and on remit. So- this Tory government is apparently anti- trans. Now that’s not true. All the Tory government has done despite huge incursions on women’s rights over 13 years is to propose to offer self ID, withdraw that in its own electoral interests then offer GRCs at the new bargain price of £5. That seems like giving extra things to trans people.

On the other hand we have Telegraph journalists attempting to portray Nokes as a lefty because she is a TRA. If so I would like to see any left-leaning credentials from her apart from her unwavering support for men’s sexual access rights?

Doesnt this simply go to show that misogyny is rife in ALL the major political parties right now, left and right, and they ALL have a shitload of work to do to root this out? This issue will not go away until that is done.

*ArabeIIaScott" · Today 10:25

Good to hear that's in the Telegraph. Channel 4 should be held to account.

Sadly, there will be nothing like it in the Guardian, unless it's a more muted hatchet job. I started reading it 30 years ago, because it was free in the college library, when I was doing A-Levels.

It exposed me to all sorts of writers, often thought provoking; I probably wouldn't have encountered them, otherwise. And I've watched its quality deteriorate, especially in the last six or seven years.

Yes. Worth noting the WESC also has a Tory transwoman on it, Jamie Wallis. He's the first open transwoman in parliament, but for some reason neither the trans rights activists nor the Tories seem keen to celebrate the fact.

Just published

Britain's equality watchdog has suspended an investigation into its chief after a growing backlash over an attempted coup by trans-activist civil servants.

In an update published on its website, the EHRC said: "This investigation has been paused.

"This is while we seek legal advice on the impact of leaked confidential information. We must ensure its integrity and that it is fair to all parties concerned."

On the one hand we have TRAs in the EHRC

This is what the telegraph seemed to miss. There are political activists employed as supposedly impartial civil servants affecting implementation of policy.

All the Tory government has done despite huge incursions on women’s rights over 13 years is to propose to offer self ID, withdraw that in its own electoral interests then offer GRCs at the new bargain price of £5.

Two things here - one is many of the huge incursions on women’s rights have come about from the aforementioned activist civil servants refusing to follow government policy. This is a huge issue for the fundamentals of democracy in the UK.

The other is while, yes the Tories should have done far more to protect women, sadly there isn’t a party that offers a better choice. Labour, Lib Dem’s and the SNP would completely decimate them.

Decimate women’s rights

Interesting.

They've shot themselves in the foot because they don't understand legal process. They are so dim.

The investigation has now been suspended.

..due to leaked confidential information.

From the Comment section in the Times:

For employees of a publicly-funded watchdog to behave in such a way is indefensible.

So too is briefing the press, which, as the EHRC has recognised, prejudiced an investigation by an independent barrister whose services were set to cost taxpayers £120,000. There are accepted channels to mediate workplace disputes. They do not involve the dissemination of smears and innuendo via the media. The commission would be justified if, as it was suggested last night, they chose to drop the inquiry. And Lady Falkner would be well within her rights to refuse to engage with a process that has already been discredited.

With a bit of luck, they'll soon conclude that it's all a big bag of wank and file it under B1-N, hoping that it's forgotten.

Here's a share token: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/2c515ea0-fb34-11ed-bc7a-1444acf8fa38?shareToken=6de6eb01c15bc16b3a82d93e613443af

Dropping the inquiry also stops Falkner being exonerated too. Though I doubt the activists would accept inquiry results that did that anyway.

Also here

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/26/ehrc-suspends-investigation-baroness-falkner/

And usual places

It shouldn't be forgotten. Anyone who has hounded and bullied Baroness Falkner, or made up unsubstantiated allegations to try and smear her, should face consequences.

And she should have her costs reimbursed.

We cannot have people bring down due process like this, it's not a sustainable way to run a country.