UK charity regulator opens case into right-wing Policy Exchange think-tank
The UK's charity regulator has opened a compliance case into Policy Exchange, one of the country's most influential think-tanks.
This comes after the Good Law Project filed a 27-page complaint last month, accusing the think-tank - which is formally registered as a charity - of breaching charity law.
The complaint said Policy Exchange was founded "on the explicit basis that it would be a ‘non-partisan’ institution - and that it would educate the public, in an objective way, in relation to politics and economics".
It added that Policy Exchange's "true activities involve lobbying, influencing government policy, and publishing one-sided, partisan reports filled with ‘policy recommendations’.
"We have seen no evidence that the charity genuinely engages in the task of educating members of the public in a balanced way.
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"All its activities seem to be directed towards policymakers, politicians and journalists."
Middle East Eye has contacted Policy Exchange for comment.
The Westminster-based think-tank was set up in 2002 by a group of Conservative MPs who feared their party was destined for perpetual opposition following Labour's emphatic wins under Tony Blair in 1997 and 2001.
Michael Gove, who went on to become a senior Conservative minister and is now editor of The Spectator, was Policy Exchange's first chairman.
The Good Law Project said in its complaint that Policy Exchange's stated objectives are the "non-partisan advancement of education of the public in the economic social and political sciences and their effect on public policy", as well as "the pursuit of such other purposes which are exclusively charitable".
The complaint added that Policy Exchange "operates a right-wing think-tank. It does not hide the fact that it admires, celebrates and seeks to advance right-wing politics.
"For instance, it is currently hosting a year-long festival celebrating the 100th birthday of Margaret Thatcher."
It further said that "the trustees have shown an unhealthy obsession with transgender issues, and with advocating in favour of the rolling back of transgender rights".
The think-tank's greatest success, many believe, has been its work shaping the counter-terrorism policies of successive governments.
Trojan Horse affair
Policy Exchange has sought to frame the official narrative about British Muslims to create a new relationship between the British state and Muslims.
It was a significant promoter of the so-called “Trojan Horse” plot of 2014 - the now discredited narrative that a tightly knit group of Muslim teachers and governors with an Islamist agenda had plotted the takeover of Birmingham schools.
Gove, the then education secretary, was privatelly told by officials that counter-terrorism police had decided the letter claiming there was a takeover plot was a hoax.
But Gove reportedly "used the letter to sanction numerous high-level investigations into potential extremism in Birmingham schools anyway".
A number of successful Muslim teachers were wrongly targeted and smeared, with misconduct cases brought against them collapsing in 2017.
There has been no inquiry into the handling of the Trojan Horse affair and those behind the false narrative - including Policy Exchange - have doubled down on the claim that "hard-line activists Islamised state schools in Birmingham".
MEE reported in July that a working group set up by the government to advise on a possible definition of Islamophobia invited Policy Exchange for a consultation - but the think-tank declined.
Policy Exchange's recent output includes a report on the Labour government's potential "Islamophobia definition", one responding to "attacks on Churchill's life and legacy", and another on "why Britain needs conservatism".
Jolyon Maugham, executive director of the Good Law Project, told Civil Society: "We believe these to be very serious breaches of the obligations of an educational charity.
"We think it’s long past time that the Charity Commission created real disincentives to breaches of this nature - in effect they amount to a misuse of public money - and if the Charity Commission fails to do so we will not hesitate to challenge it in court."
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