Lord Lawson's charity 'blurring fact and comment on climate change'

The Global Warming Policy Foundation set up by former Tory chancellor Lord Lawson as an educational charity has been rapped by the government’s Charity Commission for blurring fact and comment and for lacking neutrality on climate change.

The commission examined the website and material published by Britain’s leading climate sceptic organisation and ruled that “it was difficult not to form the conclusion that the publications and postings on the charity’s website promoted a particular position on global warming.

“In areas of controversy, education requires balance and neutrality with sufficient weight given to competing arguments. The promotion of a particular view or position would not equate to education.”

Complaints that the charity, set up in 2009 to challenge government policies to reduce man-made climate change, was promoting political rather than educational views were upheld by the commission.

“The high media profile of the charity and the concerns raised as to its political nature created a potential risk to the integrity of the sector. Although a charity may properly campaign in support of its objects ... where the purpose is education then the requirements of balance and neutrality still need to be met,” it said.

According to the commission, the charity’s trustees argued that the main purpose of the foundation was to promote research. “They pointed to “a wide divergence of views among members of its advisory council and that it did not hold or support any particular view,” it said.

But in July, after nearly 12 months of discussions, the foundation set up a new campaigning arm, the Global Warming Policy Forum, which is not subject to the commission’s rules.

Benny Peiser, the foundation’s director, said the commission’s ruling had helped to make the organisation more effective. “We accepted that we had to split the website. We are very happy with this development. It allows us to do things we could not do before and has made us more effective. It allows us to become a campaigning organisation which we never could be before”.

Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at London School of Economics and Political Science, said: “Now that it has been found in breach of the Charity Commission’s rules, it is telling that the foundation has decided not to comply, but instead to set up a campaign arm to continue to disseminate inaccurate and misleading information and to lobby against climate policies.” .

“However, at least politicians, media and the public will know that they should treat information from Lord Lawson and his fellow campaigners with greater scepticism.”