Now UN probes violence against women in the UK: Ministers fear review into Government's response will lead to demands for radical new laws

Visit by equality campaigner provoked anger among ministers

They fear it will produce a fresh set of UN demands for new laws

Previous UN visitor: Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith called Raquel Rolnik a 'loopy Brazilian lefty'

United Nations human rights chiefs have launched an investigation into violence against women in Britain.

A UN 'special rapporteur' will spend two weeks inquiring into 'the main manifestations of violence perpetrated in the family and in the community' and whether the British Government condones it.

The visit by South African academic and equality campaigner Rashida Manjoo provoked anger among ministers, who fear it will produce a fresh set of UN demands for radical new laws.

One Government source said the inquiry would produce 'a fiesta of politically correct nonsense about a serious issue'.

Last autumn the UN's special rapporteur on adequate housing, Brazilian Raquel Rolnik, invited herself to Britain and delivered a report demanding the abolition of what she called, to the fury of Tory politicians, 'the bedroom tax'.

Mrs Rolnik spoke to left-wing activists, called for rent controls, and recommended a massive programme of public housing construction. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith called her a 'loopy Brazilian lefty', described her report as 'outrageous', and said she had compromised the impartiality of the UN.

The new inquiry by Professor Manjoo is the latest in a number of visits to different countries to examine the plight of women she has made since her appointment in 2009.

In the United States she said government policies were 'inadequate', called for more gun control, for a sheaf of new anti-discrimination laws, for fewer women to be imprisoned, and for the re-introduction of tribal law in Native American communities.

In Algeria, however, Professor Manjoo found the country had 'distinguished itself in the promotion of gender equality' and praised the government's family code as 'aimed at gradually effecting social change with the participation of the community.'

This put her at odds with Amnesty International, which has said the code 'imposed many serious limitations on women's rights' and that women suffer 'considerable discrimination in law and practice.'

Professor Manjoo, who arrived in Britain on Monday, said: 'Violence against women continues to be one of the most pervasive human rights violations globally, affecting every country in the world.

'During my mission I will meet with individuals and organisations involved in fighting all aspects related to violence against women, its causes and consequences with a view to assessing the phenomenon in the country,' she added.

The United Nations headquarters building in New York

The UN said she will 'also look at violence that is perpetrated or condoned by State authorities, and violence encountered by women facing new vulnerabilities due to the increased influx of immigrant women, asylum seekers and refugees.'

Professor Manjoo said: 'Importantly, I will visit shelters to obtain first-hand information from individual survivors of gender-based violence.'

Interventions by UN representatives in British domestic politics have become increasingly controversial since 2011, when a UN adviser on forced eviction, Professor Yves Cabannes, visited an illegal traveller site in Essex in advance of an eviction.

He declared that 'a study which I led on forced eviction found that at Dale Farm, and the UK in general, the government is violating international human rights law on three points - the right to adequate housing, the right to be defended from forced eviction and discrimination.'

Last year's visit by the housing rapporteur Mrs Rolnik was said by the UN to be at the invitation of the British government.

However, ministers said the visit was conducted on her own initiative, and that the 'invitation' was no more than formal protocol extended at the insistence of the Foreign Office.

The UN said yesterday that Professor Manjoo 'visits the country at the invitation of the Government'.