From Lord Oxburgh's report, paragraph 3 of 26.
The eleven representative publications that the Panel considered in detail are listed in Appendix B. The papers cover a period of more than twenty years and were selected on the advice of the Royal Society. All had been published in international scientific journals and had been through a process of peer review. CRU agreed that they were a fair sample of the work of the Unit. The Panel was also free to ask for any other material that it wished and did so. Individuals on the panel asked for and reviewed other CRU research materials.
So, not only did the Royal Society pick the members of the panel, but they also picked the papers that were to be examined.
I wonder who it was within the Royal Society that might have done this work. I mean, one would need a pretty in-depth understanding of climatology to be able to pick a representative sample of papers from the CRU oeuvre would one not? That sort of understanding isn't found on every street corner. So who might they have turned to?
How about the Royal Society Advisory Group on Climate Change? You know, the one with Phil Jones as a member.
They wouldn't have would they?