Shadowy statecraft charity lambasted by Scots watchdog

£2 million from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has been slated in a report from the charities’ watchdog.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) launched an inquiry into the Institute for Statecraft last December after concerns were raised over the use of its Twitter

account and alleged data breaches.

During the inquiry OSCR said it found the charity was not meeting the legal tests required for charitable status in Scotland because its purposes were not entirely charitable; one of its most significant activities – the Integrity Initiative – did not provide any public benefit; and private benefit to charity trustees was not clearly incidental to the institute’s provision of benefit to the public.

OSCR also found charity trustees had breached their duties to act with due care and diligence in the interest of the charity.

Dr Paul Monaghan, a former SNP MP who has had past and present roles in charities, said its offshoot had a propaganda role opposing Scottish independence, and it seemed unfair that standards were not being applied to it in the same way as others organisations. He told The National: “Charity trustees across Scotland will find this report very disappointing. How can an organisation funded by the UK Government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that was found not to meet the basic legal tests for charitable status, not be struck off by OSCR, more so when it is considered that the investigation of the ‘Integrity Initiative’ found the charity’s trustees had breached their duties to act with necessary care and diligence?

“This report reflects poorly on OSCR and will leave many charity trustees working tirelessly to run small, local charities wondering why they are required to meet standards that are clearly not applied equally.”

He added: “The Institute for Statecraft was responsible for the Integrity Initiative, indeed they were a FCO-funded front for the Integrity

Initiative, which has a propaganda role against Scottish independence. That initiative was set up to undermine anyone on social media supporting Scottish independence.”

The watchdog warned the institute in August highlighting its failure to meet the charity test and indicating that it could use its formal powers to address the issues. It added that since then, the charity’s trustees “have continued to engage with us, and have taken steps to meet the charity test and to address the governance issues identified in our inquiry”.

OSCR added: “In the light of the actions taken by the charity trustees, we do not consider formal action by OSCR to be necessary or proportionate. However, we will continue to monitor the charity’s activities and governance.”

With a business address in a disused mill in the village of Auchtermuchty, Fife, the Institute for Statecraft was responsible for the Integrity Initiative programme, which was allegedly set up to combat Russian propaganda and identify fake news.

It claimed to be a non-partisan

project which “defends democracy against disinformation”.

Among the complaints against the charity was that it used social media to attack Jeremy Corbyn, describing him in retweeted articles as a “useful idiot” for Russia.

A barrage of cyberattacks preceded the tweets and saw manipulated files distributed through Russian state media outlets. Last December the Sunday Mail reported that the Integrity Initiative’s social media account had tweeted the critical

comments of UK politicians, often over their stance on Russia. This triggered an allegation from Emily Thornberry, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, that the charity was using state resources “to disseminate articles attacking the integrity of Conservative and Labour officials, of Conservative peers and, repeatedly, of the leader of Her Majesty’s

Opposition”.

As a result, OSRC opened its inquiry. A spokesperson for OSCR said: “We don’t have anything to add to the published inquiry report as this sets out our findings and our reasoning in full.”

In a statement on the Institute for Statecraft website, the charity said: “The Trustees and staff of the Institute are grateful to the OSCR for bringing this inquiry to a conclusion and would like to express their appreciation for the OSCR’s highly professional, approach in their conduct of the Inquiry.

“We acknowledge the need to improve further in those areas of governance highlighted in the report.

“The Trustees have underlined their commitment to this work and to collaborating closely with the OSCR in this regard as the Institute moves forward.

A FCO spokesperson added: “We expect any charity which receives an FCO grant to comply with charity law and guidance.”