Nigel Havers defends aunt Lady Butler-Sloss over child abuse inquiry

The actor Nigel Havers led a fightback to defend his aunt Lady Butler-Sloss after the Labour party raised questions about the appointment of the retired judge as chair of the panel of inquiry into child abuse.

As victims' groups called on Butler-Sloss to stand down, Havers described his aunt as a totally honest person who would have stood down if she felt it was inappropriate for her to continue.

The row over Butler-Sloss came as David Cameron indicated that the government may change the law to accept a recommendation by the NSPCC to enforce the mandatory reporting of child abuse. The prime minister spoke out after Peter Wanless, the chief executive of the NSPCC who is leading a home office review into the home office handling of papers related to child abuse, called for a new criminal offence to cover the failure to report child abuse.

Cameron said: "Should we change the law so that there is a requirement to report and make it a criminal offence not to report? The government is currently looking at that. It may well be time to take that sort of step forward."

Outside the Commons, Butler-Sloss came under fire because her brother, the late Lord Havers, was attorney general from 1979 to 1987 when some of the controversy over the failure to prosecute child abuse cases may have occurred.

Lord Havers, who later served briefly as lord chancellor, backed the decision of the director of public prosecutions not to prosecute Sir Peter Hayman, a diplomat and subscriber to the Paedophile Information Exchange. He was caught sending paedophile literature through the post but was not prosecuted. Butler-Sloss insisted she had been unaware of reports that her brother tried to prevent the ex-MP Geoffrey Dickens airing claims about the diplomat in parliament in the 1980s. "I know absolutely nothing about it," she told the BBC. "If people think I am not suitable, then that's up to them."

Nigel Havers, the son of the late lord chancellor who died in 1992, rallied to his aunt's defence. He told The World at One on BBC Radio 4: "I know my aunt very well. Had she felt any form of bias, or any idea that she shouldn't be doing this inquiry she would have pulled out this morning. The very fact she hasn't means to me she feels she has absolutely had no political ties to my father and knew nothing about what was going on in the House of Commons at that time. Therefore she has every right to lead the inquiry.

"I know her well enough to know she is totally honest, totally transparent, highly respected and very very good at her job. I don't think the fact that my father was attorney general at the time makes any difference whatsoever."

Havers, who made his name as the hurdler Lord Lindsay in the film Chariots of Fire and was a staple of British television in the 1980s with programmes such as The Charmer and Don't Wait Up, defended his aunt after a lawyer representing victims of child abuse, Alison Millar, told The World at One that Butler-Sloss should stand aside.

Millar said: "Baroness Butler-Sloss is an extremely eminent legal figure with a very distinguished career. However, it has become apparent that she has very close connections to the very establishment this inquiry will be investigating – namely her brother.

"To give an analogy, it would be rather like appointing someone who was a close relative of the head of the South Yorkshire police, however eminent a judge, to chair the Hillsborough inquiry. It [the inquiry] will lose credibility. Picking someone who will be seen at the start potentially by survivors as someone who is very much of the establishment, linked to the establishment at the time, is not going to give people any confidence to come forward and be frank and fearless in front of this inquiry."

Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, intensified the pressure on Butler-Sloss when she criticised the Home Office for apparently failing to take account of her brother's role as attorney general in the 1980s. Thornberry told the Daily Politics on BBC2: "I don't question this admirable, extraordinary woman's integrity … but I'm surprised the Home Office didn't look at this, because I think they have put her in a very difficult position."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Baroness Butler-Sloss has had a long and distinguished career at the highest levels of this country's legal system. Her work leading the Cleveland child abuse inquiry and as president of the high court's family division make her the perfect person to lead this important piece of work. As the permanent secretary told the home affairs select committee yesterday [Tuesday], the integrity of Baroness Butler-Sloss is beyond reproach and we stand by her appointment unreservedly."

Ed Miliband declined to raise any questions about Butler-Sloss at prime minister's questions. But Harriet Harman, the Labour deputy leader, highlighted the party's concerns when she said that perception is important and the victims must have confidence in the inquiry.

Harman told The World at One: "It is a Home Office appointment. It is not our appointment. But we are supporting it being as open and transparent as possible. We absolutely respect Elizabeth Butler-Sloss but we are determined that the victims must have confidence in it, and perception is important."

The Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who has played a leading role in calling for an investigation into child abuse allegations, also aired his on Wednesdaydoubts yesterday, saying it beggared belief that the government did not foresee the potential conflict of interest when it first invited her to take the post on Monday.

Danczuk acknowledged her expertise. "She does have a lot going for her in that she's very knowledgable, very experienced, but there are these outstanding issues that raise concerns and we want somebody in the chair that exudes confidence and that's not the case.

"She's part of the establishment and that raises concerns, and the relationship in terms of her brother is too close for comfort. I think that's the conclusion most people will reach."