Britain’s ‘most un-PC’ charity will shut down

LONDON — An organization that has run an all-male, blacktie charity dinner announced on Wednesday that it would hand out its remaining funds and then shut down, a day after an undercover investigation by the Financial Times revealed that participants in the dinner groped, harassed and propositioned young women hired as servers.

The British establishment’s reaction to the scandal was severe and immediate, a reflection of the reckoning for many powerful men around the world following revelations of sexual misconduct by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Career-ending revelations of sexual harassment and abuse have become regular occurrences, but the Financial Times’ report, published Tuesday, was nonetheless remarkable. The newspaper sent two female journalists undercover to work as “hostesses” for the Presidents Club dinner and auction last Thursday at the Dorchester hotel in London.

The annual event for prominent men in business and media, where alcohol has flowed freely, raised about $3 million for children’s charities this year. The newspaper reported that criteria for the hostess job included being “tall, thin and pretty,” and wearing “skimpy black outfits with matching underwear and high heels.”

The dinner, held since the 1980s, was described in the article as “the most un-PC event of the year.”

Items auctioned included a night at a strip club.

The group that held the event, the Presidents Club Charitable Trust, announced late Wednesday that it would disband.