Commons leader Harriet Harman has defended her role in the reappointment of Trevor Phillips as chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Challenged at Commons question time, Ms Harman said the commission needed "continuity of leadership."
And she hit out at Tory critics of the commission, saying: "They don't like the onward march of equality."
Parliament's joint committee on human rights last week issued a report on the EHRC which was critical of Ms Harman for renewing Mr Phillips's three-year contract last year without parliamentary involvement or open competition.
Ms Harman said the chief executive of the EHRC had left her post and with the Equality Bill before Parliament, "I felt we needed continuity of leadership and therefore it was right to reappoint the chair and the vice-chair."
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