Reform calls itself independent. However
the research below brings this claim into question in what appears to be the breaking
of the Charity Commission rules for all charities to remain politically
independent. Download as PDF
The 'charity’s' claim to independence is
based on having one Liberal Democrat (Jeremy Browne) and two Labour members
(Lord Warner and MP Frank Field) and a Conservative MP, (Julian Smith) on their
advisory team. These however do not represent the overall dominance of the
organisation towards the Conservative party, which can be seen by the
powerbase, of the founders and trustees. The bullet points below represent a list of
these connections.
- All of the co-founders have links to the Conservative party.
- Reform is recognised as part of the Conservative party movement by multiple medium including the Conservativehome.
- Two MPs to emerge from Reform both belong to the Conservative party
- Two of the trustees have provided money to individuals in the Conservative party
- Two of the trustees and a director have advised two Conservative MPs
Founders:
Three people set up Reform Research Trust
in 2002: All have links to the Conservative party.
Andrew Haldenby, Nick Herbert and Patrick Barbour.
Andrew
Haldenby: Director was formerly head of the
Conservative Research Department (1995-1997), finishing up as Head of the
Political Section with responsibility for briefing the Shadow Cabinet and
Leader for key media interviews and appearances. Mr Haldenby is considered by
the Telegraph to be the 59th most influential person on the right.[1]
Nick
Herbert: MP is founder of Reform and a member of
the Conservative party. Mr Herbert is considered by the Telegraph to be the 86th
most influential person on the right. [2]
Patrick
Barbour: (No longer part of Reform) but politically
active on the Eurosceptic right of the Conservative Party since at least the
early nineties when he helped to fund the Bruges Group. Patrick Robertson, The patriotic 'pipsqueak'
of Bruges, The Sunday Times, 16-June-1991 – Gave the Conservative Central
party £7,000 in 2005 and has since gone on to become a donor of UKIP.
Trustees:
The Trustees of Reform according to their
website are:
Stephen Hargrave, James Palmer and Jeremy
Sillem. In the 2011 Full accounts, additional trustees were Rupert Darwell and
Oliver Pawle.[3]
Rupert Darwall: Noted as a trustee
in the 2011 full annual accounts is a Consultant Director of Reform, a
freelance strategy consultant. He was previously Special Adviser to the Conservative
Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont. [4]
Oliver
Pawle: Currently the Honorary Treasurer. In the 2011 Full
accounts it says: One of ‘The trustees who held office during the year’ was
‘Oliver Pawle’. Mr Pawle gave money to Dr Liam Fox for
£5,000 on 2nd November 2009 to help run his office.[5]
Mr Pawle is down as a trustee during this period. In 2009, he attended a
Conservative premier dinner at the Dorchester.[6]
In addition Mr Pawle advised Francis Maude on the possible structures and
duties of the non-executive directors in a new structure to governance
structures. [7]
Stephen
Hargrave: Trustee and director, who according to
the Electoral Commission gave £5,000 to Conservative MP David Davis in 2001 for
a leadership candidate, this was prior to Reform becoming a charity.
MPs who worked for Reform
before becoming MPs
Nick Herbert founded Reform and is now the
Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs.
Elizabeth Truss was a deputy director of
Reform in 2008 and is now the Conservative MP for South West Norfolk
Other
Nick
Boys Smith, consultant director - adviser on
welfare policy to Conservative MP Peter Lilley when he was Secretary of state
for Social Security before working at McKinsey & Co. [8]
Media stating Reform as part
of Conservative movement
In July 2009, Cameron gave a speech to
Reform think tank launching the Conservative policy on culling quangos.[9]
In July 2011 - David Cameron launched his
plans for public service privatisation programme at the Think Tank Reform.[10]
No other party launches policy from Reform
In January 2008 the Telegraph listed the
top twelve think tanks in its opinion. It said of Reform: 'Political links.
Good relations with Tories. Nick Herbert, Shadow Justice Secretary helped set
it up.'[11]
In 2009, ConservativeHome.Com who are supporters of the Conservative party produced an article that talked about the ‘growth of Britain’s conservative movement’. Reform is included in list of list of organisations they see as Conservative.[12]
In 2009, ConservativeHome.Com who are supporters of the Conservative party produced an article that talked about the ‘growth of Britain’s conservative movement’. Reform is included in list of list of organisations they see as Conservative.[12]
In their 2011 report, Reform have a quote
from journalist George Monbiot which says on their transparency: ‘The only right-wing think tank that
did well was Reform.’[13]
In February 2012 - Will Heaven as Acting Deputy Comment Editor of The Daily Telegraph wrote: 'Today the think tank Reform, one that informs Conservative policy, pleads with the Government to "renew the commitment to NHS reform".'[14]
Reform had meetings "meetings of
“leaders of the conservative movement … sharing ideas to try to pave the way to
a new Tory government."
The Times claimed Reform had meetings of “leaders
of the conservative movement … sharing ideas to try to pave the way to a new
Tory government." [15]
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ReplyDeleteIndeed, of the two 'Labour' members, one openly supports Conservative policies (having voted for the Health bill) and the other is a critic of Labour, and has a role in the Coalition.
ReplyDeleteNow they've arrived at reform of GP appointments by personal payments. How convenient for the Coalition. In doing so they exhaustively compare the UK with other Western countries as is suits their purposes. One has to ask why such a comparison wasn't made with the NHS privatisation agenda.