Top job for man who insulted Devon women

THE incoming chairman of the Charity Commission was a former Conservative candidate in Devon who once called women voters in the county “notoriously hideous.”

Orlando Fraser’s short-lived attempt to become a Westcountry MP has emerged as controversy surrounds his appointment to the top job overseeing Britain’s charities.

But he has denied being a Conservative or a friend of Boris Johnson.

Mr Fraser, who stood as a Tory candidate in Devon in 2005, told a parliamentary committee on Thursday: “I am not a Conservative.”

Promising to uphold the independence of the Commission, he said: “My own political involvement was nearly 20 years ago in 2005 when I was a political candidate, and I did that such a long time ago that most reasonable people would think, given the overall abilities that I’ve got and the qualifications, that that shouldn’t really be a serious bar or cast serious doubt on being able to do it.”

Mr Fraser also apologised for the comments he made while a Tory hopeful when he called female voters in Devon “notoriously hideous”.

Agreeing his remarks were “misogynist”, Mr Fraser, who was 35 at the time he made them, said he was “profoundly sorry”, adding: “I was a young, slightly foolish man. I am older and wiser and I hope it’s not held against me.”

Mr Fraser, now 54, a barrister who has previously served on the board of the Charity Commission, was announced as the Government’s preferred candidate to chair the regulator on March 8 after the previous candidate, Martin Thomas, was forced to withdraw over allegations of misconduct.

His appointment has been criticised by Labour. Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell called it “another case of the Tories looking after their own”.