United Nations disown the 'loopy Brazilian leftie' official who came to Britain and demanded the bedroom tax be axed Raquel Rolnik flew into the UK to assess impact of benefits changes Furious Tories condemned the political attack and demanded an inquiry UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon disowns the 'independent' official The United Nations has moved to distance itself from the outspoken Brazilian official who attacked the government's welfare reforms. Furious Tories branded Raquel Rolnik a "loopy Brazilian leftie" after she flew into the UK to criticise the "bedroom tax" changes to housing benefit. Now the UN has slapped her down, insisting she is not a member of staff and has nothing to do with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Miss Rolnik's extraordinary intervention in British politics, claiming cuts to benefits was an infringement of human rights, sparked warnings that she had undermined the impartiality of the UN. In her two-week tour Miss Rolnik, who is the UN special rapporteur on housing, repeatedly borrowed Labour's favoured description of the policy as a bedroom tax and appeared with campaigners at protest rallies. Tory party chairman Grant Shapps wrote to Mr Ban demanding an investigation into the official's conduct. But aides to the Secretary-General have disowned her remarks. Jane Connors, from the Officer of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, insisted Miss Rolnik was in the UK in an "independent capacity" and is "neither accountable to nor appointed by" Mr Ban. Disowned: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has distanced himself from Miss Rolnik's remarks In a letter to Mr Shapps she said: "Ms Raquel Rolnik is one of 72 independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council - the led UN body responsible for human rights - on the basis of their expertise and independence, and following a competitive selection process. As in the case of all mandate holders, Ms Rolnik serves in an independent capacity and in accordance with a Code of Conduct adopted by the Council. She is not a staff member of the United Nations, is neither accountable to nor appointed by the Secretary-General, and does not receive any compensation beyond a daily allowance when engaged in mandated activities. Miss Rolnik is expected to submit a final report to the UN in March next year. But the slap down from Mr Ban's officials will limit the impact of her final recommendations. Mr Shapps said: "People expect the UN to be neutral, yet on this occasion a former Workers Party politician came with a clear agenda." Ministers, who estimate the average affected household will lose £14 a week, say the policy will save taxpayers £500million a year. During her visit Miss Rolnik revealed a shaky grasp of UK house prices by saying: "How many people can afford to buy a £120,000 apartment? She said at the end of her visit: "My immediate recommendation is that the bedroom tax is abolished. The academic, brought up a Marxist, actually offered an animal sacrifice to Karl Marx Her lengthy CV lists countless qualifications, civic achievements, books and publications - but Raquel Rolnik makes no mention of dabbling in witchcraft. Yet the architect and urban planner appears to be an avid follower of Candomble, an African-Brazilian religion that originated during the slave trade. The academic, brought up a Marxist, actually offered an animal sacrifice to Karl Marx when she was studying for her Masters degree in architecture so "he would leave her alone" to study in peace. According to her elder sister Suely, a well-known Brazilian psychoanalyst and intellectual, Raquel had become "contaminated" by other philosophies and offered the sacrifice to appease the German revolutionary socialist. The UN special rapporteur's fascination with Candomble rekindled memories of another controversial figure's links with the religion that worships African gods. In 2001, Peter Mandelson was ridiculed when reports emerged that his Brazilian partner, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, had engaged a Candomble witch doctor to put a hex on political enemies in a ceremony involving the slaughter of a chicken. It was claimed that the Labour spin doctor - now a peer - held a live chicken by the neck while a priest in Rio de Janeiro cut off its head, splashing Mr Mandelson with blood. Mother-of-two Mrs Rolnik lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city, and is a professor at the city university's faculty of Architecture and Urbanism. Her Polish grandfather died in the Holocaust and her parents emigrated to Brazil. She has held various government positions, speaks six languages, and was appointed to her UN post in 2008. In an interview, her sister Suely gave more clues about Raquel's upbringing and background. She said: "My little sister - who is much younger than me - and I have always felt the same. I was born in Belenzinho [a poor area of Sao Paulo], my parents are immigrants and we never tried to hide this, we do not feel well in high class, bourgeois places. She was always brilliant academically. So she wanted to show that these forms of housing, including tenement houses, favela housing etc, aren't the only solutions to poverty. She wanted to show that there were other alternatives. She lived in communes at the time, she went to Africa, the Caribbean, Colombia, she went to the houses of African witch doctors to find out what was the memory of housing in Africa, during slavery. But the university didn't accept her thesis. I greatly admire her work, her courage, the work she is doing with the UN is fantastic, she is very precocious. Suely said Raquel came to live with her in Paris in the 1970s and became interested in French philosophers. When she went to do her Masters, she offered an ebo - an animal sacrifice - to Marx, so he would leave her in peace. Because, as well as having a Marxist formation at the university, when we were small our parents put us in the Leftist Zionist movement. Raquel had a really solid Marxist formation. So she had to give an ebo to Marx in Candomble so he would leave her alone.