Tory hypocrisy over Oxfam sex scandal: Have they forgotten their own recent history?

Last Updated: February 13, 2018By

The Conservative Party’s attitude to the revelations of sexual impropriety in the charity Oxfam is baffling.

Only a matter of months ago, the Tory Cabinet endured a wave of resignations – starting with that of Michael Fallon and ending with that of Damian Green – after revelations were made about their own behaviour.

Questions remain to be asked about the so-called “sex spreadsheet” containing the names of 36 Conservative MPs along with allegations of wrongdoing against them.

For example, Andrew Mitchell is on record has having said that Oxfam should be “held to account”. Will he be held to account for his own alleged behaviour, as detailed on the spreadsheet that entered the public domain last October?

None of this should be interpreted as suggesting that Oxfam and its workers are blameless, of course.

What about whistleblower Helen Evans’s claim that she informed the Charity Commission and the Tory government about concerns over improper behaviour in June 2015 and August 2015?

Kate Osamor MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, said: “The Charity Commission and government departments have serious questions to answer: why did they take no action in response to concerns raised by Helen Evans in June 2015 and August 2015? Are there other whistleblowers that have brought safeguarding concerns to the Charity Commission only to be ignored?

“It is crucial that we now understand how far this appalling scandal reaches, and whether the Charity Commission is operating effectively as an independent regulator.”

And a commenter to This Site, ‘Rotzeichen’, has stated: “Not a matter of months ago Tory ministers had to be forced out office due to public pressure, whilst they happily tried to sweep it all under the carpet.

“The underlying circumstances of the Tories postion on this should raise questions asking about the real Tory agenda here. Is it because they don’t like Oxfam that highlights the impact Neo-Liberal governments are having on poverty?”

When you see the Tories pontificating about Oxfam concealing evidence, ask yourself: When we they come clean about all the information on their own behaviour?


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7 Comments

  1. NMac February 13, 2018 at 3:56 pm - Reply

    The Tories will milk this for all its worth. They only pretend to like charities, the reality is they hate them – purely because they help the less fortunate. Secondly, of course, this particular story is a distraction.

  2. Nick February 13, 2018 at 4:43 pm - Reply

    its well known that charities have always like the government worked in secret behind the scenes’ the same as masons and everyone else who purports to be looking out for others

    I’ve never came across any charity that does something for nothing and in reality that’s the bottom line and always has been

    whatever a charity may do or appear to do you can be certain someone someware has been taken advantage of

    they try to make out that there working for free and yes some decent people may well end up working for free and doing a great job and I know of a few over the past 40 years but the majority and all at the top will only work for big money only

  3. Jenny February 13, 2018 at 4:52 pm - Reply

    It will turn out like Kids Company . R-M was just waiting for his opportunity to get Oxfam closed down and deflect attention from the morals of his party. Perhaps it did happen as reported. It was 7 years ago! How come the scandal has just broken?

  4. Growing Flame February 13, 2018 at 4:59 pm - Reply

    This seems to be the result of “outsourcing” a government function. This time, international aid work has not been “privatised” (though I suspect that private transport companies do very well out of it all) but handed over to charities, at arm’s length from the state. This has created a huge expansion in the charities incomes and responsibilities.
    There has also been unrelenting pressure from governments to become more “professional” because voluntary bodies have long been derided as inadequate compared to the ,apparent, efficiency of private companies.
    As a result, the charities have increasingly hired more and more staff who did not share the original aims and moral stances of their employers. Drivers, managers, logistics administrators, have all got much needed skills but the charities did not have the time to train and integrate them into organisations with strong ethics beyond the profit -motive of private companies. Soon enough, some of the male staff began to take advantage of vulnerable local women, as they would have done if they were still working for “normal” international corporations.
    I share the shock and anger caused by these revelations but I don’t regard Oxfam, or other well -respected charities,as hopelessly corrupt or compromised. They just grew too big, too fast.

  5. Ann Ford February 13, 2018 at 6:50 pm - Reply

    The tories are trying desperately at the moment to find items to deflect attention from themselves and what a very poor job is being done by a very poor lot of politicians.

  6. The Toffee February 14, 2018 at 9:12 am - Reply

    Let’s not forget that Oxfam was (IIRC) the first charity to refuse to take ‘workfare’ and ‘MWA’ (People forced to work for their dole) on as ‘volunteers’.

    Over the last week we’ve heard both mordant (Made veiled threats) and patel (Who’s shrieked at the top of it’s voice) for Govt funding for Oxfam to be withdrawn…Both have previously served as DWP ministers as well as (More recently) DfID.

    Vindictiveness is a tory virtue…

  7. Dave Putson February 14, 2018 at 4:02 pm - Reply

    I contacted my MP and copied in the LOTO on this very point.
    Does anybody know what the 36 Tory spreadsheeted sex pests are doing? Writing complaint letters about OXFAM staff presumably…….

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