Stanley Kalms

Stanley Kalms

Stanley Kalms (born 21 November 1931) is the former treasurer of The Conservative Party and a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel. He was the Director of the Centre for Policy Studies think tank from 1991-2001.

Business

Kalms is the life president and former chairman of DSG International (formerly Dixons Group). DSG owns Dixons.com, Currys, The Link and PC World outlets. He spent his entire career from 1948 working for Dixons, which was founded by his father Charles Kalms in 1937.

He was Chairman of Volvere plc, a British turnaround group, from 2002 – 2011.

Background

Stanley Kalms was educated at Christ's College, Finchley. He has been married to Pamela for 67 years. They have three children, Richard, Stephen and Paul as well as eight grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. He has a second home in Portugal.

Charitable activities

Kalms was also involved in many private charitable activities including the setting up of the Stanley Kalms Foundation in London and previously the Stanley Kalms Readership in Business Ethics and Strategic Management at University of North London. He was Chairman of King's Healthcare NHS Trust from 1993 to 1996. He was also involved in the King's Hospital ISLET Diabetes Research Programme. As well as health related giving Kalms also gave a a wide range of conservative, neoconservative and Zionist recipients including: Anglo-Israel Association | B'Nai B'rith Hillel Foundation | British Friends of Haifa University | British ORT | Buckingham University | Business Ethics Center of Jerusalem | Cambridge University Jewish Society | Centre for Social Justice | Civitas | Commonwealth Jewish Trust | Community Security Trust | Eurofacts | Henry Jackson Society | Holocaust Education Trust| Immanuel College | Institute of Economic Affairs | Institute for Jewish Policy Research | International Policy Network | Jewish Association for Business Ethics | Jewish National Fund | London Jewish Cultural Centre | New Frontiers Foundation | Nightingale Hammerson | Norwood | Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies | Politeia | Reform Foundation Trust | Shaare Zedek | Taxpayers Alliance | United Jewish Israel Appeal/UJIA Survivors Appeal | Western Marble Arch Synagogue

Publications

Kalms has written in the press on the subjects of European Monetary Union (EMU), and on Corporate Governance; and a book – A Time to Change – a review of the activities of the United Synagogue (1996).

Political activities

Kalms was Treasurer of the Conservative Party from 2001 until 2003. In 2009, there were reports that he could be thrown out of the Conservative party, after he said he was considering lending his vote to UKIP in the European elections.

He was the Director of the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank from 1991 to 2001. He is a member of the Advisory Board of United Against Nuclear Iran which is an advocacy organization closely tied to neoconservative and other “pro-Israel” factions that promotes a confrontational U.S. stance towards Iran, particularly with respect to its nuclear program. Kalms is a member of the Savile Club and Portland Club. The Stanley Kalms Foundation gave £100,000 to the neoconservative Henry Jackson Society in 2013.

Traditional Alternatives Foundation

The Traditional Alternatives Foundation is a grant making trust run by Lord Kalms and his wife. The Foundation grew out of a series of conferences held in London in 1989-90 which were funded by Stanley Kalms and led by the future Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

The Traditional Alternatives was set up by a deed dated 14 August 1990. Its charitable objects state:

Trustees shall pay or apply the income of the Trust Fund in furtherance of Education (including education in the Jewish Religion) Learning and Research for the public benefit, and in the promotion of programmes of lectures and study groups and other forms of seminars and discussion aimed at increasing knowledge of all aspects of Judaism and the Jewish communities both in England and overseas and in particular of Judaism in contemporary society including the production of materials for such activities and the dissemination of the useful results thereof.

The ‘Traditional Alternatives’ conferences were aimed at galvanising Britain’s Jewish community, but according to the Guardian journalist Madeline Bunting, Kalms became 'disappointed and frustrated by Dr Sacks slow progress'. In 1996 she noted that Kalms had 'withdrawn from the Anglo-Jewish scene in the past five years' and had shifted 'his interest and money to a radical Orthodox think-tank in Jerusalem.'

Sacks fell out of favour with Kalms such that in 2003 Kalms called on Jonathan Sacks to resign as Chief Rabbi, alleging that he had failed to provide sufficient support for Israel.

However, some years later, in the year up to 31 March 2009, the Centre for Social Cohesion received £195,000 from the Traditional Alternatives Foundation and was its only grant recipient. In 2010 it received £125,000, 75% of the Traditional Alternatives Foundation’s total donations that year.

Renewing One Nation

Kalms provided £300,000 funding for Tim Montgomerie to establish the Renewing One Nation group within the Conservative Party. The funding was provided on the condition that the organisation be non-denominational. Renewing One Nation was a predecessor to the Centre for Social Justice and claimed that the Conservative Party's proposed tax cuts would 'foster a compassionate society where people are rewarded for taking responsibility for themselves, their families and their communities.'

Honours

Kalms has close connections to the University of Buckingham. He received an honorary degree from Buckingham, and Chris Woodhead was the Sir Stanley Kalms Professor of Education. He received his knighthood in the 1996 New Years Honours for his services to the electrical retailing industry and made a life peer as Baron Kalms, of Edgware in the London Borough of Barnet in 2004.

Views

Criticism of William Hague

Lord Kalms criticised William Hague in 2006 for describing the Israeli military attack on Lebanon as a "disproportionate" response, calling him an "ignorant armchair critic" and arguing that his remarks were "downright dangerous".

On Islam

British Jewish author Tony Lerman, formerly of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research has written about feeling uncomfortable with views expressed by Kalms on Islam. Lerman recalls a meeting on 17 November 2006:

There was only one 'interest' that European Jews needed to pursue in Europe, he [Kalms] said: Islam and Islamic fundamentalism. What JPR should be doing is fighting Islam, showing complete support for the two people who had stood up to Islam - Tony Blair and George Bush. Most Muslims didn't want to integrate, he said. Ultimately they would line up behind the fundamentalists. After making disparaging remarks about Islam he asserted that the problem was what Muslims were doing in their schools, in their madrassas and in their mosques cannot be controlled.

Lerman wrote that he found it 'deeply disturbing that some in high political circles' would believe that Kalms' views were 'representative of Jewish views generally'.

Donations

Recorded by the Electoral Commission:

Date	Name of donor	Amount	Donated to
23/02/2001	Stanley Kalms	£9,729.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
02/03/2001	Stanley Kalms	£20,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
12/03/2001	Stanley Kalms	£2,350.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
13/03/2001	Stanley Kalms	£2,526.25	Conservative and Unionist Party
21/03/2001	Stanley Kalms	£3,337.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
02/04/2001	Sir Stanley Kalms	£2,408.75	Conservative and Unionist Party
21/05/2001	Sir Stanley Kalms	£38,011.25	Conservative and Unionist Party
19/06/2001	Sir Stanley Kalms	£5,000.00	Rt Hon Michael Portillo MP
12/07/2001	Sir Harold Stanley Kalms	£5,000.00	Mr George Iain Duncan-Smith
29/08/2001	Sir Harold Stanley Kalms	£235.50	Mr George Iain Duncan-Smith
04/12/2001	Sir Stanley Kalms	£69,500.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
19/12/2001	Sir Stanley Kalms	£3,525.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
31/12/2001	Sir Stanley Kalms	£1,445.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
04/03/2002	Sir Stanley Kalms	£120,500.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
09/05/2002	Sir Stanley Kalms	£4,688.25	Conservative and Unionist Party
10/06/2002	Sir Stanley Kalms	£1,529.99	Conservative and Unionist Party
24/06/2002	Sir Stanley Kalms	£160,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
30/06/2002	Sir Stanley Kalms	£10,769.23	Conservative and Unionist Party
02/09/2002	Sir Stanley Kalms	£80,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
30/09/2002	Sir Stanley Kalms	£6,666.67	Conservative and Unionist Party
18/10/2002	Sir Stanley Kalms	£4,666,62	Conservative and Unionist Party
12/12/2002	Sir Stanley Kalms	£7,138.13	Conservative and Unionist Party
04/12/2001	Sir Stanley Kalms	£69,500.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
20/12/2002	Sir Stanley Kalms	£41,033.91	Conservative and Unionist Party
17/04/2003	Sir Stanley Kalms	£7,266.30	Conservative and Unionist Party
15/05/2003	Sir Stanley Kalms	£250.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
30/06/2003	Sir Stanley Kalms	£1,210.27	Conservative and Unionist Party
06/11/2003	Sir Stanley Kalms	£4,500.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
31/03/2004	Lord Stanley Kalms	£3,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
10/11/2004	Lord Stanley Kalms	£10,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
04/03/2005	Lord Stanley Kalms	£5,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
04/04/2005	Stanley Lord Kalms	£2,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
17/10/2005	Lord Stanley Kalms	£25,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
06/07/2006	Lord Stanley Kalms	£5,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
25/07/2007	Lord Stanley Kalms	£2,000	Conservative and Unionist Party
30/11/2007	Lord Stanley Kalms	£25,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
01/12/2007	Lord Stanley Kalms	£5,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
11/03/2009	Mr Stanley Kalms	£3,000.00	Conservative and Unionist Party
04/04/2016	Stanley Kalms	£10,000.00	Vote Leave
10/05/2016	Howard Stanley Kalms	£10,000.00	Vote Leave
10/05/2016	Howard Stanley Kalms	£10,000.00	Vote Leave

Affiliations

Carlton Club | Centre for Policy Studies | Stanley Kalms Foundation | Conservative Friends of Israel | Dixons | DSG International | Conservative Party | Traditional Alternatives Foundation |United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI), advisory board member|

External resources

• Nigel Morris, Tory donor tells David Cameron: Change tack on Europe or I’m off to Ukip, Independent on Sunday, 26 March 2013.