show ad This non-profit o rganisation is like the Left's very own old boy network By Guy Adams PUBLISHED: 23:27 GMT, 3 Novembe r 2013 | UPDATED: 23:27 GMT, 3 November 2013 15 shares 41 View comments Shoreditch-based non-profit organisation, Common Purpose, was founded in 1989 by Julia Middleton, a 55-year-old author and liberal activist who now works as its chiefexecutive Ask anyone con ne cted to Common Purpose wh at it actu ally does, and the y w ill almost certainly respond with a wall of impenetrable jargon. On its website, the charity likes to call itself an ‘independent, international leadership developmen t organisation’. In filings with th e Charities Commiss ion, it describes its ‘objective’ as being to ‘educate men, women a nd young people … fro m a broad range of geographical , politic al, eth nic, institutional , soc ial an d eco nomic
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8/14/2019 GUY ADAMS_ This non-profit organisation is like the Left's very own old boy network _ Mail Online.pdf
This non-profit organisation is like the Left'svery own old boy network
By Guy Adams
PUBLISHED: 23:27 GMT, 3 November 2013 | UPDATED: 23:27 GMT, 3 November 2013
15 shares
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Shoreditch-based non-profit organisation, Common Purpose, was founded in 1989 by
Julia Middleton, a 55-year-old author and liberal activist who now works as its chief
executive
Ask anyone connected to Common Purpose what it actually does, and they will almost certainly respondwith a wall of impenetrable jargon. On its website, the charity likes to call itself an ‘independent, internationalleadership development organisation’.
In filings with the Charities Commission, it describes its ‘objective’ as being to ‘educate men, women andyoung people … from a broad range of geographical, political, ethnic, institutional, social and economic
8/14/2019 GUY ADAMS_ This non-profit organisation is like the Left's very own old boy network _ Mail Online.pdf
backgrounds, in constitutional, civic, economic, and social studies.’
The language is opaque, which is what concerns a growing chorus of critics who are starting to wonder if Common Purpose’s agenda is to create a quasi-masonic Left-wing equivalent of the ‘old boy network’.
The Shoreditch-based non-profit organisation was founded in 1989 by Julia Middleton, a 55-year-old author and liberal activist who now works as its chief executive.
It has 84 employees and an annual turnover of £5million. Its best-paid member of staff, believed to be Miss
Middleton, earns between £100,000 and £110,000 a year – a considerable sum by the standards of thenon-profit sector.
For more than two decades, Common Purpose’s primary activity has been to run ‘career development’courses aimed largely at public sector and charity staff who wish to become ‘better leaders’.
The courses typically cost £5,000 and last a week. But for those who really buy into the charity’s way of thinking, the influence they buy endures for much, much longer. That’s because of Common Purpose’sall-important ‘alumni network’, which all participants are encouraged to join.
Membership allows them to interact with like-minded ‘graduates’ via a password-protected internet site, andto attend networking events held under ‘Chatham House’ rules, under which no one can be quoted by name.
No one knows how many active members regularly do just this, but 35,000 have completed CommonPurpose courses over the years.
Many now hold senior positions in Whitehall, the BBC, local government and major police forces.
They range from Sir Bob Kerslake, the head of the Civil Service, to Cressida Dick, one of Britain’s mostsenior female police off icers.
For more t han two decades, Common Purpose's pr imary activity has been to run ' career development' courses aimed largely at public sector and charity staff who wish t o
become 'better leaders'
8/14/2019 GUY ADAMS_ This non-profit organisation is like the Left's very own old boy network _ Mail Online.pdf
Freedom of Information requests show that government departments have spent more
than £1million sending st aff on Common Purpose courses. The BBC spent £125,000 over
a five-year period
Little wonder that some critics have compared Common Purpose to a giant octopus, whose mysterioustentacles stretch across the worlds of Westminster, Whitehall and academia. Others, citing the group’sapparent political leanings, wonder why it is allowed to continue receiving large amounts of public money.
Freedom of Information requests show that government departments have spent more than £1millionsending staff on Common Purpose courses. The BBC spent £125,000 over a five-year period. Police andlocal councils are believed to have given it millions.
‘It’s a huge scandal,’ says Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley. ‘Common Purpose is like aLeft-wing version of the freemasons. It’s a networking organisation for the great and good to advance their pro-Europe, pro-New Labour, politically correct view of the world.’
8/14/2019 GUY ADAMS_ This non-profit organisation is like the Left's very own old boy network _ Mail Online.pdf
In early 2005, Julia Middleton held a networking dinner at the London offices of Pearson,
the firm behind the Financial Times newspaper, which counted Sir David Bell, a Common
Purpose trustee, as a senior executive
Common Purpose would deny party-political bias. But it has particularly close ties to senior Blairites.
David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, gave it free government office space in Sheffield.
In early 2005, Julia Middleton held a networking dinner at the London offices of Pearson, the firm behind
the Financial Times newspaper, which counted Sir David Bell, a Common Purpose trustee, as a senior executive.
It was attended by senior bankers, academics, and a bishop, along with Robert Peston, the BBC journalist.Like many of Miss Middleton’s meetings, Peston recalled, the dinner ended ‘with a collective wail about theirresponsibility and excessive power of the media’.
A few weeks later, Middleton and Bell would co-found the Media Standards Forum, the charity whichspawned the pressure group Hacked Off.
Eight years later, and like so much that Common Purpose’s intensely well-connected founder lies behind,the campaign to muzzle the Press has ended up succeeding beyond her wildest dreams.
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8/14/2019 GUY ADAMS_ This non-profit organisation is like the Left's very own old boy network _ Mail Online.pdf
Surely, this should be a commercial organisation, not a charity? No matter whether there is any poli tical agenda or not, I just can'tsee how Common Purpose has any kind of charitable purpose. 'Charity' is supposed to be about direct assistance to the needy -either through health or education assistance. Helping professional people do their jobs is not a charitable purpose in my book.That organisations such as this get all the tax benefits of being a 'charity' seems very, very wrong to me. No wonder more andmore of us are sceptical about charities as a whole.
09
Wakeup, London, 3 days ago
Why, oh why, does the Conservative Party allow this indoctrination organisation continue? It is rife throughout the public sector,forming a clique for those that are ambitious and want to further their careers by being part of the left wing power base that isgaining control over the levers of power. Sadly the civil service used to be impartial, but the lefties have realised that dominatingthe machinery of government can wield far more power than the politicians can ever hope for. Part of their modus operandi is tocontrol the language and force political correct speak on the rest of us. Already the hard core left wing feminists have gainedpublic funding to pay their enormous salaries for causes that no politician would dare question. They set the rules and themasses become their followers. Who knows what their Marxist agenda has in store. The lefties have not gone away, they arenow gaining high powered positions within the system, all funded by the taxpayer. Come on Cameron..
321
Voice of sanity, Wolverhampton, 3 days ago
It is well beyond time that ¿charitable status¿ was tightened up to limit inclusion to only those organisations that can provethrough actions that they are either a direct benefit to humanity or animals. Stuff the arts, sport, politics, religion and any other group that is not working at grass roots level in a tangible way.
013
Su T, Hampshire, United Kingdom, 3 days ago
Ever wondered how a disgraced, sacked, inadequate or redundant senior manager from a state funded organisation eg NHSTrust or County Council to name just 2, manages to walk straight into another similar highly paid state funded job?
030
Liberty, London, 3 days ago
No need to ban it, just for the government to ban publicly funded organisations from using it or supporting it.
012
WessexDave, Bristol, United Kingdom, 3 days ago
The number of organisations that have been granted charity status with the associated tax breaks, or should that be avoidance,needs to be investigated
015
8/14/2019 GUY ADAMS_ This non-profit organisation is like the Left's very own old boy network _ Mail Online.pdf
Another devious left wing organisation supported by labour politicians
212
PirateSam, A City, United Kingdom, 3 days ago
From the tone ofthis article am I to assume that 'old boy' networks are the sole property of the right wing community then?
65
Thappers, Bristol, 3 days ago
My girlfriend went through Common Purpose. This article has almost no bearing in reality and is dangerously close to a tinfoil hatconspiracy theory. Local 'leaders' from the private sector, public sector, voluntary sector and charitable sector come together and
talk about what they do and their organisations. It's primarily a networking event. The course near here had a man who runs aprison talk about the problems and successes he's had running a prison. Somebody who ran an academy school gave a tour and talked about the difficulties of setting one up. Discussions are under 'chatham' rules so people can speak freely off therecord, not for any conspiratorial reasons. The idea it's promoting any sort of 'politically correct' or pro-European ideology isludicrous. Obviously many in the public sector have attended, many people you may have heard of of, but many from the privatesector have as well, whom you are not writing conspiracy theories about.
1110
hmsalbion, Valencia, 3 days ago
Thgis sinister group, along with ACPO, should be dissolved straight away. They work to give themselves advantages over the
rest of us - at OUR expense - and in secret. BAN THEM.
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8/14/2019 GUY ADAMS_ This non-profit organisation is like the Left's very own old boy network _ Mail Online.pdf
