Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, has made a formal complaint to the Charities Commission about the charities who fund the campaign group, CAGE. The group hit the headlines after they praised the individual alleged to be the ISIL terrorist known as ‘Jihadi John’.
Last week, the media reported that the Roddick Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have been providing grants to CAGE. Ms Villiers has written to both charities, urging them to stop this funding, as well as to the Charities Commission. She has also contacted Lord Hall, Director General of the BBC, to protest about the high profile given to CAGE by BBC News in recent days.
Ms Villiers said, “I was alarmed to read in this weekend’s press that CAGE has received funding from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. I have been concerned about CAGE for many years. They hold extreme views, including active promotion of the hate filled agenda of the late Anwar Al Awlaki. The nature of the group was exposed when they heaped praise on the individual alleged to be ‘Jihadi John’.”
“I believe it is wholly unacceptable for charities supported by the taxpayer (through the generous tax treatment given to all charities) to be funding an extremist group like this one.”
“I was also gravely concerned by the BBC’s coverage of CAGE. I felt it was disproportionate and insensitive to give them the top slot on the 10pm news, before the relatives of the victims were given air time.”