The Equality and Human Rights Commission has seen the sudden departure of a number of key figures from its executive team, just as the National Audit Office refused to sign off the organisation's accounts. Chief executive, Nicola Brewer; director of strategy, Patrick Diamond; and commissioner, Kay Hampton, will all leave the commission this month. Sir Bert Massie has also threatened to leave the commission because of his ‘unease' about the direction the commission was taking. Concerns have been raised about the commission's leadership by chairman, Sir Trevor Phillips, with allegations the commission has become too close to the Government. Sir Trevor is close to business secretary, Lord Mandelson, who was best man at his wedding. However, a commission spokesman denied there was any link between the staff departures and the commission's performance or leadership. She said: ‘All three departures were unrelated.' And she said the accounts had been delayed in being signed off because of the complexity of also looking at the accounts of the three predecessor bodies and the transition team.
