The government should lose its powers to appoint Charity Commission board members, a sector leader has said.
Sir Stephen Bubb, former boss of Acevo, the body which represents charity chief executives, was speaking after a major Conservative donor was named on the commission’s board.
Rory Brooks, a financier and philanthropist, is one of three new commission board members announced yesterday. Orlando Fraser, chair of the regulator, described Brooks as “an ideal person” to help encourage greater philanthropy from the richest people in the country.
Brooks, founder and chair of the private equity firm MML Capital, has donated more than £300,000 to the Conservative Party, according to media reports.
Parliament’s register of interests shows that Brooks has also made donations to individual Conservative politicians as recently as 2020.
He sits on the board of the Quintessentially Foundation alongside its founder, Ben Elliot, who was chair of the Conservative Party under Boris Johnson.
Elliot was criticised after Third Sector revealed that he had hosted private events at the Victoria & Albert Museum for paying members of his company while sitting on the V&A’s board.
Brooks is a director at the Centre for Social Justice Foundation, a body linked to the CSJ think tank established by former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith. The foundation board is chaired by Leo Noe, another major Tory donor.
Brooks is also chair of trustees at his own family grant-maker, the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation.
Bubb told Third Sector that, given the commission’s emphasis on the need for charities to retain public trust, “it is odd that you then see an appointment made of someone who is so obviously linked with the current political establishment”.
Brooks’ appointment “is an absolute example of why we need to reform the appointment process for the Charity Commission”, Bubb added. “It needs to be seen to be wholly independent of the political process.”
He said: “I think the process needs to be taken out of the hands of the Prime Minister and put into the hands of an independent body.”
Orlando Fraser said yesterday: “Rory Brooks is an ideal person to help the Charity Commission’s efforts to improve philanthropic giving amongst the top 1 per cent.
“He has been recognised with a CBE for his own substantial philanthropy, especially to Manchester University (where he currently serves as chair of its International Advisory Board), and has consistently promoted philanthropy, including previous service on a UK Government Task Force on Philanthropy.”
A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson said: “Public appointments are made on merit, in line with the process and principles in the governance code on public appointments and regulated by an independent commissioner on public appointments.”