Letwin faces grilling over Kids Company
CABINET Office Minister Oliver Letwin will be grilled by MPs this week over why he overruled civil servants to give £3million of taxpayers’ cash to scandal-hit charity Kids Company.
Letwin stands accused of showing favouritism to Kids Company by giving it the huge sum even though senior mandarins opposed it. Thanks to Letwin, the £3million was handed over in July – just three months after his department had given the charity another grant of £4.3 million. Receivers are now trying to work out whether any of the £7.3million can be recovered. The charity – which is also being investigated by the police over allegations of sexual abuse on its premises – collapsed in August with the loss of 600 jobs.
The grilling comes as The Mail on Sunday has established Letwin’s links to Kids Company are much closer than previously realised. As long ago as 2002, when the Tories were in Opposition, Letwin was among the first to call for Kids Company to get Government support.
He added the charity should not be put in a ‘bureaucratic straitjacket’ – an early hint of the current scandal over the way Letwin and other Tory Ministers overruled pleas by sceptical Whitehall officials not to give it more money. It has also come to light that Letwin is both a trustee and a governor of Sherborne School for Girls, the leading public school which gives free places to children helped by Kids Company and was attended by founder Camila Batmanghelidjh in the 1970s.
Letwin will give evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Administration Committee on Thursday. The MPs have already interviewed Ms Batmanghelidjh and chairman of trustees, BBC executive Alan Yentob.