Charity attacked over close links to Brown
Friday, 18 Jul 2008 19:47
Thinktank with very close ties to Gordon Brown rapped by Charity Commission for lack of independence
A thinktank has been criticised by the UK charity watchdog for its exceptionally-close ties to Gordon Brown.
The Smith Institute retains a charitable status – giving it various tax exemptions – but the commission found trustees "did not adequately manage the risks to the independence of the institute and its reputation".
"When a charity operates close to the political environment, it must safeguard its independence and ensure that any involvement it has with political parties is balanced," said Andrew Hind, chief executive of the Charity Commission.
"Our inquiry has reconfirmed that the Smith Institute is a charity and has found that it is doing work of educational value. However, the Institute was vulnerable to the perception that it was involved in party politics – never acceptable for a charity."
The judgment is a serious indictment of a group that maintains almost unprecedented levels of contact with the higher echelons of the Labour party. Its meeting are held in Number 11, Downing Street, and the director of the Institute, Wilf Stevenson, is one of the prime minister's closest friends. So much so, in fact, that Mr Brown was best man at his wedding.
It was these ties with Mr Brown which provoked questions about the Institute's charitable status. Shadow chief secretary Theresa Villiers has also launched a freedom of information request to the Treasury asking for full details of Mr Brown's links with the group.
In its report, the commission said the institute is a charity and conducts work for the public benefit which is freely available and has educational value.
But it said trustees should be more engaged with the running of the institute given the nature of its activities and the political environment in which it operates.
Trustees will now have to implement a governance review and report back to the commission in six months.