Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity

RedRooster Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 04:19:30 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Women living in the Romsey and Southampton North constituency have been sent a survey from A-listed Tory PPC Caroline Nokes, which incorporates the logos of both Breast Cancer Care and the Conservative Party.



The survey is nothing to do with breast cancer (it's just a general political survey), and yet it's done in the colours of the 'In the Pink' campaign and Nokes claims she is sending it out as part of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Apart from being immensely tacky, my understanding is that by putting a registered charity's name and logo on party political literature may put the charity in a potentially illegal situation. I cannot imagine the charity would OK something like this, which suggests the local Tories showed appalling recklessness by sending it out.

What's also interesting is that the leaflet looks to be of extremely high quality- full colour, good quality paper and very professionally laid out. To me it looks like an Ashcroft funded leaflet, which may mean that it was OK'd by someone at Tory central office.

Even if it wasn't it's no excuse- Caroline Nokes has been a PPC many times before.  In fact I'm told that in a previous campaign against John Denham, she sent out campaign literature with herself in 'provocative poses' to male voters (though I have sadly been unable to dig up any examples).

Am I right about this? Is there any possible universe in which putting a leading breast cancer charity in a potentially illegal situation in order to further your own political ambitions is considered OK?

A scan of the front page of the survey is here



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Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity | 24 comments (24 topical)

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#1)

by champagnesocialist on Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 09:58:18 AM GMT

Have Breast Cancer Care been told? I wouldnt have thought that they would want to find themselves in this position


Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#2)

by rwendland on Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 11:03:59 AM GMT

... especially as a certain Cherie Booth QC is a patron of Breast Cancer Care!


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#3)

by rwendland on Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 11:37:57 AM GMT

RecessMonkey reports that Breast Cancer Care has contacted Caroline Nokes to say they will not accept her charitable donations, and point out that next year Nokes "would be in breach of Charity Law if she had put out her leaflet in the new year as it is expected that promises of donations of unspecified amounts are to be made illegal in the new year under the Charities Act."


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#17)

by EvanPrice on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 06:35:24 PM GMT

As I have pointed out on his website, from the papers that I have seen, Caroline Nokes was not soliciting money for the charity she was merely saying that she would make a donation to charity for each survey form returned to her.

The new s.60A of the Charities Act would not, it appears to me, be in play and so there is, in my view any risk of a breach of the law in her actions. 

BTW, I am a barrister and my practice encompasses charity law; if you think I have made a mistake in my interpretation of the relevant legal provisions, do please let me know with an explanation of where I have gone into error.


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#4)

by RedRooster on Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 12:08:32 PM GMT

Also Sandra Gidley, the sitting MP for the constituency who Nokes will be running against, is the vice-chair of the APPG on cancer and apparently works quite closely with Breast Cancer Care.  Perhaps Nokes got jealous...


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#5)

by Mike Ion on Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 08:52:56 PM GMT

The woman should be ashamed - I hope Team cameron show some bottle and put pressure on her to stand down.



Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#12)

by Red Maria on Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 02:35:33 AM GMT

"The woman should be ashamed"

Oh for heaven's sake, why? Where on earth was all the self-righteous fuss about charities and political involvement when Ed Miliband said that charities should be able to engage openly in political activities? Where has all the outrage about the already overt political influence of big charities been hiding for so long? This smells of faux naivete and humbug.


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Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#6)

by RedRooster on Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 10:09:49 PM GMT

Questions need to be asked via the medium of the Caroline Nokes facebook group...

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5689638615 


Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#7)

by rwendland on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 01:02:58 AM GMT

This was on Channel 4 News. Seems someone at Breast Cancer Care authorised Caroline Nokes to use the logo, but the charity now say that this was a mistake by one of their fundraising staff.

Well done RedRooster for raising this.  


Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#18)

by EvanPrice on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 06:37:53 PM GMT

"Well done RedRooster for raising this."

I couldn't disagree more.  This really is a fuss about nothing ...  and those that think it is really ought to get a life.
 


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#19)

by EvanPrice on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 06:38:56 PM GMT

Sorry; I should have written 'those that think it is important'


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#20)

by RedRooster on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 08:30:19 PM GMT

As someone who works in the communications industry, the sheer idiocy of the survey offended me.  Plus the small matter that it placed the charity in a potentially illegal situation.

So which part wasn't important- the illegality, the exploitation of a good cause, or the fact that a top Tory PPC doesn't have the first clue about electoral law?


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#21)

by EvanPrice on Sat Jan 12, 2008 at 08:34:58 AM GMT

What illegality?  She was not soliciting money for a charity (which is what creates a problem under s.60A of the Charities Act (as amended)). 

The charity was not approving this candidate; they merely permitted (however unwisely, is not relevant to this) their logo to be used on a political letter.  That in my view would not amount to 'endorsing' a politician or party and so would not put them into difficulty with the charity commission.  None of the text of the letter or survey form that has been reported could or would amount to such an endorsement.

The charity's reported response; that they would refuse to accept money generated by the responses is the only matter that I can see difficulty with (from a Charity law perspective).  Charities have an obligation to maximise their revenues from legitimate sources; this would be a donation to them without strings and without any illegitimate action.  Refusal of such a donation without good cause could result in difficulty.

Other than those allegations of illegality which, in my view, is patent nonsense; what other 'illegality' is alleged? 

Survey forms by all political parties tend to be idiotic - the content of the survey is not paramount. 

I don't think that this particular tactic was a good one; and that can perfectly sensibly be criticised.  But turning this in to a crusade that makes increasingly unsustainable claims of illegality is absurd.  Other than a report about it and a claim that acting in this was was unwise, everything else that I have read about it is nothing more than fluff, bluff and nonsense!

What evidence is that this PPC 'doesn't have the first clue about electoral law'?  Where is the breach or potential breach?  Methinks this is yet another effort to give a non-story legs it doesn't deserve.


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#22)

by RedRooster on Sat Jan 12, 2008 at 05:26:25 PM GMT

"That in my view would not amount to 'endorsing' a politician or party and so would not put them into difficulty with the charity commission."

Well then our opinions differ.  That was clearly the intention behind the Nokes survey, and that is how many people who I know received the survey (and supported the charity, up to that point) took away from it.  And that's obviously the message BCC is terrified of, hence why they are refusing to accept money from the candidate.

Also it's worth remembering that according to the most recent news report, the charity never actually saw the completed survey before it was sent out.  That makes the whole claim that they 'approved' it pretty questionable in my view.


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Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#23)

by RedRooster on Sat Jan 12, 2008 at 05:32:28 PM GMT

Just realised that story wasn't actually linked to anywhere.  See here.

Breast Cancer Care spokeswoman Nicky Scott said permission should not have been granted for the survey to be printed.

She added: "We cannot and do not align ourselves with political parties or candidates. It was a mistake by a junior member of staff who didn't actually see the survey before it was printed."

 

 


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#24)

by EvanPrice on Sat Jan 12, 2008 at 10:42:03 PM GMT

"That was clearly the intention behind the Nokes survey, and that is how many people who I know received the survey (and supported the charity, up to that point) took away from it."

Whilst a court might consider the second part of this as relevant, the problem lies with the first part.  It is the charity's acts of endorsement that create the problem.  The text of the letter is important and there was not statement that the charity even supported this candidate ...

"the charity never actually saw the completed survey before it was sent out.  That makes the whole claim that they 'approved' it pretty questionable in my view."

They accept that they were asked for permission and have said that someone said 'yes' ... again, it also rather goes against the 'endorsement' point too.


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Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#8)

by Just Labour on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 11:30:57 AM GMT

A lack of judgement on this candidate's part but not one that requires a resignation. This is the problem you get when party's select inexperienced candidates whose only quality seems to be being youthful and local.


Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#10)

by RedRooster on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 07:35:44 PM GMT

She's not inexperienced.  In addition to being a PPC at least once before, she is also a Cabinet member for her local council and worked for an MEP (albeit her dad) for 10 years.  You would have thought that somewhere throughout that time she would have picked up the lesson that using a charity's logo on political literature was not OK.


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#11)

by RedRooster on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 07:42:19 PM GMT

Correction- she was a PPC twice before, against Sandra Gidley in 2005 and against John Denham in 2001.


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#9)

by Limony on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 03:40:45 PM GMT

I think this is also what you get when not-for-profit organisations rely on untrained, unpaid and inexperienced staff. Look at the volume of unpaid positions with charities on w4mp; I even know one which puts its media relations in the hands of a new volunteer every three months.


Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#13)

by labour yorkie on Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 08:06:30 PM GMT

All tory PPC's are opportunists when it comes to this sort of thing. We have a number of them in Yorkshire seats. The tories have picked some real dead wood for candidates in our area. The latest news on one of their PPCs  and a local councillor in the Leeds area is that he his  allegedly some kind of heavy hitter with the drink and the fags and allegedly on medication for mental health problems hence the reliance on fags and drink that the tories are trying to keep quiet. I am told it would be an embarassment to Cameron to have him stand down. Might have his identity soon!


Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#14)

by RedRooster on Fri Dec 28, 2007 at 03:39:36 PM GMT

There is a world of difference between a candidate having personal problems and a candidate using a charity as a vehicle for their own political ends.  To be honest I don't even want to be associated with the kind of nasty gossip you're peddling.  Sorry.


[ Parent ]

Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#15)

by RedRooster on Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 09:48:53 AM GMT

The charity is now launching an enquiry, and the candidate is STILL not commenting.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/latest/display.var.1945992.0.inquiry_into_charity_slogan_row.php&nbs p;


Re: Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity (#16)

by RedRooster on Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 02:07:22 PM GMT

Someone just forwarded me this link:

http://www.southampton.gov.uk/news/NewsItem.asp?ID=3520&M=122007

So, a few days after a Tory PPC is exposed for exploiting a charity, the Tory controlled council puts out a press release WARNING PEOPLE ABOUT GROUPS PRETENDING TO BE CHARITIES.

You cannot make this stuff up. 


Top Tory PPC exploits breast cancer charity | 24 comments (24 topical)