The Charity Commission has opened a compliance case into the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds after the charity called the Prime Minister a “liar” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The charity found itself in hot water last month after its post calling Rishi Sunak and ministers Michael Gove and Therese Coffey “liars” for weakening environmental protections went viral, garnering 10.8 million views.
The original post was followed up by an apology which said: “We are in a nature and climate emergency and that demands urgent action.
“The RSPB is deeply frustrated by the government’s reneging on its environmental promises. But that frustration led us to attack the people, not the policy.
“This falls below the standard we set ourselves and for that we apologise. We will continue to campaign vigorously on behalf of nature but we will always do so in a polite and considered manner.”
The charity faced heavy criticism at the time, with RSPB trustee Ben Caldecott posting on X that it was “simply not an appropriate contribution to our public discourse from such an important and highly respected organisation”.
Caldecott wrote: “We can strongly disagree and make our case without calling people ‘Liars!’ As a trustee I have raised this issue urgently with the CEO and chair, among others.”
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “This was a serious mistake and we continue to engage the charity on this matter.
“The trustees have shared information on the steps they are taking to review how the incident happened, and to ensure such mistakes do not occur in future.
“We have opened a regulatory compliance case to fully assess this information and to determine our next steps.”
The original post has not been deleted and did receive some positive feedback at the time, with the clean-rivers advocate Feargal Sharkey among those praising the post as the charity “taking a stand”.
The RSPB told Third Sector: “We have been in close contact with the Charity Commission since the incident occurred and will of course remain in dialogue with it.”