A charity set up by minister for international trade Liam Fox has been accused of failing to deliver on promises set out in a series of high-profile publicity campaigns.
The charity Give Us Time was set up by Fox in 2012 after the collapse of his charity Atlantic Bridge, with the aim of giving free holidays to the families of military personnel. It has also been a recipient of Libor funding, awarded by the Treasury.
But eighteen months after its launch, the charity had paid for just five families to go on holiday, despite claiming shortly after launch that “300 weeks or six years” of free accommodation was already secured, according to an investigation by BuzzFeed.
The charity, which hosted several high-profile launch parties attended by David Cameron and George Osborne, is also accused of paying for the flights of two of Fox’s staff members, despite not paying for the flights of the military families.
Charity funded through Libor fines
James Ball, special correspondent at Buzzfeed, told radio station LBC: “We found that nearly 18 months after he set it up and after he had all of this coverage and these parties, he had only just got around to giving five families a holiday, which didn’t seem like very much in comparison to the publicity.
“When we dug into it, we found that they were given a big grant of solid money by the Treasury [in November 2014, from money raised through Libor fines], which for a new charity that hadn’t been doing very much, is a bit questionable.”
The Libor fine grant was awarded to the charity at a time when it had given away just 40 free holidays and had just £4,405 in assets, according to BuzzFeed.
According to Ball, several MPs have expressed concerns about the charity’s activities and said they will seek answers to some of the allegations. They include deputy leader of the Labour Party, Tom Watson, who called for Fox to “urgently explain” the charity’s activities in light of the fact that it “appears to have done very little” prior to receiving the Treasury grant.
To date, the charity has helped fewer than 130 families in total over its three-year operational period. The figure is less than half as many week-long trips that Fox said were donated in the charity’s first month alone.
According to the charity’s accounts, its last reported income was £645,315 for the year ending 30th September 2015. But expenditure was just £160,022 for the same year.
A statement by the charity said: “We are extremely lucky to receive Libor funding to further the aims of our charity which recognises the need to provide a holistic approach to welfare by providing support to the military family units. The publication data is a matter for the treasury.”
This is the third time that Fox’s charitable endeavours have come under scrutiny. In 2011 his charity the Atlantic Bridge Education and Research Scheme, was shut down following concerns by a member of the public that it was being run as a political party organisation.
In 2014, Fox’s involvement with another charity, Afghan Heroes, soured after the charity was investigated by the Charity Commission over “unmanaged conflicts of interest, unauthorised trustee benefits and financial mismanagement”.
The investigation prompted Fox to step down as patron, citing a “breakdown of trust” after the charity failed to inform him of the investigation.
He has also been involved with several political scandals, including the MP expenses scandal in 2009 – in which he was found to have the largest over-claim. In 2011, he resigned as defence secretary over allegations he gave his close friend Adam Werrity – who was also the only staff member of his failed charity Atlantic Bridge – inappropriate access to the Ministry of Defence.
The Charity Commission has not confirmed to Civil Society News if the charity is currently under investigation.
Give us Time was approached for comment but did not respond by the time of going to press.
