You're right but the problem there is that as Smith says, and I quote: "I found it odd, and unsettling, that you expressed your own judgement on this subject publicly on television before the first hearing of the DCMS select committee which you were to chair," Smith wrote. "You had demonstrably made up your mind before Azeem Rafiq had given his evidence and this badly undermined my confidence in the whole process."
Unfortunately, to me, it had an air of a kangaroo court, with a predetermined outcome and a star witness who has been proven to be unreliable:- which in no way excuses racism or racist behaviour and, given the seriousness of the situation, is deeply unsatisfactory, but it does go some way to explaining why they may have been reluctant to appear at the hearing and present their side of the argument.