Paedophile crimes should not be used to score points against 'The Establishment'

Fiona Woolf, as you can probably tell from her Maggie-Smith-in-yet-another-costume-drama photograph above, is a member of The Establishment. She’s Lord Mayor of London. And a QC. Plus, she has been at the same social events as former home secretary Lord Brittan and his wife; is even sort of friends with Lady B, in common with hundreds of other well-connected people. That’s the thing about being of a certain age and professional eminence – you keep being introduced to each other and occasionally show up at the same dinner parties.

Take another example: Baroness Butler-Sloss. Her late brother, Lord Havers, was attorney general when Leon Brittan was in office. So you could say that she ‘moved in the same circles’ as the Brittans. Plus, she was our first female Lord Justice of Appeal. Establishment, you see.