The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
British-US club rocked by appointment of sex harassment suspect
YOU may not have heard of the British-American Project (BAP) but it was founded as an elite society to foster transatlantic relations, with the likes of David Miliband, Lord Mandelson and Jeremy Paxman among its fellows.
They gather to discuss the issues of the day, in what the Project likes to describe as “organised serendipity”.
In recent weeks, however, its gentility has been upended by a war over the appointment to its executive committee of a star accused of sexual harassment.
Some members are furious that Hardeep Singh Kohli, the Scottish comedian, was voted on to the committee last year despite allegations against him that had been circulating since 2020.
Some of the society’s 1,500 members have accused the organisation of prioritising diversity over propriety, and its chairman has had to apologise for being slow to get a grip on the problem after two committee members resigned.
They have also complained that members were kept in the dark about the fact that Mr Kohli was in a relationship with the society’s UK project director, a paid employee who sits on the executive committee.
Last month Mr Kohli was arrested and charged with what Police Scotland described as “non-recent” sexual offences, and sent a report to the Procurator Fiscal, who will decide if the matter goes to court. Despite resigning from the committee of the BAP in July, Mr Kohli remains a fellow and has not been suspended.
An internal spat at the organisation has become so heated that its advisory board has issued a plea to fellows to “depersonalise the debate” while also urging them to button their lips, saying it would be “destructive” to BAP if the row “were to spill out in public”.
Glaswegian Mr Kohli has presented programmes for the BBC and Channel 4 and was runner-up in Celebrity Masterchef in 2006 as well as appearing on
Celebrity Big Brother in 2018.
On Oct 19 last year Mr Kohli was voted on to the committee by the BAP board. The current chairman, Michael Smeeth, who was treasurer at the time, said in a letter to fellows that Mr Kohli had been recommended for a place on the committee by two other fellows “who felt the EC [executive committee] needed greater representation by Fellows of Colour”.
He was voted on to the committee despite concerns raised by Martin Vander Weyer, a financial journalist, who is joint chairman of the BAP advisory board.
Allegations of sexual impropriety had been published in newspapers in 2020, when a fellow comedian, Lulu Popplewell, said Mr Kohli had offered to help with her career if she slept with him. Other women said the 54-year-old Bafta winner had made similar advances and groped a woman’s breasts.
Apologising for his behaviour, he said at the time: “It is now clear to me that my actions and words made women feel intimidated, undermined and undervalued.”
Following his election to the BAP committee, two female members resigned, one of whom said Mr Kohli’s appointment was the main reason. Last month two more members quit.
A letter to fellows signed by “The Black Ladies of BAP” says it was “disconcerting to learn that an intimate relationship between the project director and HSK was not treated as a disqualifying factor in the process to appoint EC members ... moreover, the fact that this relationship was only disclosed to the Chair and not disclosed to the rest of the EC raises concerns about transparency and accountability”.
A spokesman for the BAP said Mr Kohli’s relationship with Jo Lindley was common knowledge among fellows, and that there was no conflict of interest as Ms Lindley had no role or vote in the appointment of committee members.
A BAP spokesman said: “We are shocked by the charges against Mr Kohli, which fly in the face of our shared values and have taken steps to restrict his involvement in our fellowship.
“We are monitoring the judicial process and will consider what further action to take.”