![]() ![]() Jo Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, said: “We don’t think it’s the Charity Commission’s job to muzzle or “cancel” charities that don’t push the government’s agenda. The Good Law Project letter says: “It is clear … the rebalancing exercise referred to is the use of the commission’s powers to prevent or deter charities from decisions and activities which the secretary of state refers to as “woke” – that is, which arise from a focus on and awareness of the existence and consequences of racial prejudice and discrimination.” The Good Law Project has called for the interview process to be paused, and to be re-run lawfully. Under charity law the secretary of state can appoint the regulator but is expressly prohibited from directing or controlling the actions of the appointee. “Ministers will only select a candidate that can convince on these criteria,” he added. This was described as untrue by the fellowship, as well as the Churchill family, which said it wholly supported the name change.ĭowden said he had instructed officials to ensure candidates for the Charity Commission chair role were “tested” on how they would use the watchdog’s powers to rebalance charities by “refocusing” them on their founding missions. He cited the example of the Churchill Fellowship, which was criticised by the prime minister Boris Johnson over media reports it had changed its name in an attempt to “airbrush” out Sir Winston’s name. ![]() The move follows increasing concern in the voluntary sector that charities are being used as “fodder for phoney culture wars” as hostile Tory MPs and ministers criticise a range of legitimate charitable activities, from brand name changes to blogposts and the discussion of race and the UK’s colonial history.ĭowden published an opinion article in the Daily Telegraph and on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) website last weekend to attack what he called “a worrying trend in some charities that appear to have been hijacked by a vocal minority seeking to burnish their woke credentials”. It says an instruction issued by the former culture secretary Oliver Dowden last week before interviews for the post is unlawful and “amounts to an impermissible and improper attempt on the secretary of state’s part to direct and control the exercise of the new chair’s regulatory functions”. ![]()
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