The Daily Mail isn’t happy because Mark Simms mocked Boris Johnson six years ago
The Tory media is outraged about Mark Simms OBE’s appointment as the new interim head of the Charity Commission, who have accused him of praising so-called “hard-left politicians” and mocking Boris Johnson on social media.
But there was no such outrage from the Tories and their right-wing media allies when Orlando Fraser was appointed as head of the charity watchdog by then culture secretary Nadine Dorries in 2022.
Fraser stood as a Tory candidate for North Devon in 2005 and is founding fellow of right-wing think tank, Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice. He is also the son of late Tory MP Sir Hugh Fraser.
Despite his numerous links to the Tories, he said charities should stay out of politics.
In a recent interview he gave before leaving his position as chair of the commission, he said charities should avoid being distracted by “culture wars”.
The Mail criticised Simms for a 2019 tweet captioned “ditch-slapped”, which mocked Boris Johnson’s infamous claim he’d rather be ‘dead in a ditch’ than postpone Brexit.
It also took issue with a 2020 post in which Simms praised US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who they described as a “controversial hard-left” figure.
Simms, who has already been a member of the commission’s board for two years, has not undertaken any significant political activity in the last five years. Yet, Tory MPs Robert Jenrick and Chris Philp are still accusing him of political bias.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “When we’ve got charities accused of links to the Iranian regime and spreading extremism the work of the Charity Commission must be beyond reproach.”
Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary, told the Mail: “There can be no signs of bias or activism, the task is too important. It’s this kind of thing which erodes public trust in the fairness of our institutions.”
For comparison, William Shawcross, who chaired the Charity Commission between 2012 and 2018, was accused of bias against non-Conservative and Islamic groups.
Shawcross had previously been the director of the neo-conservative think tank the Henry Jackson Society.
In 2010, he wrote an opinion piece slamming Nick Clegg for being a europhile and claiming the Lib Dems and Labour were “dangerously authoritarian”.
Yet, none of this sparked concern from Tory MPs or the right-wing press at the time.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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