Tony Blair Faith Foundation

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Tony Blair Faith Foundation is an interfaith foundation, founded by Tony Blair in 2008 and predominantly financed by the work completed by Tony Blair Associates.

Projects

  • 'Supporting the Next Generation' - educating over 120,000 children, between the ages of 12 and 17, in over 20 countries to help prevent religious conflict and extremism.[1]
  • 'Supporting Leaders' - working with 30 universities around the world, educating graduates with the 'knowledge, analysis and skills to navigate the complexity of religions impact in the world'.[2]
  • 'Support for Collaboration' - provide opportunities for faith communities to collaborate, increasing dialogue and understanding and reducing religious tensions. They claim to have visited 290,140 households, reached 2,054,416 people and trained 15,121 volunteers.[3]

Funding

  • In 2013 the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that £325,000, a fifth of all donations declared by the Foundation at the time, had been donated by Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, who has earned billions from the steel and oil industry.[4]
  • In 2015 Public Interest Investigations/Spinwatch uncovered tax documents revealing that the Milken Family Foundation had donated $1 million to the American fundraising arm of TBFF in 2013, at a time when Blair was serving as special Middle East peace envoy of the Quartet, representing the UN, Russia, US and the EU. The Milken Family Foundation has funded a number of groups known for their anti-Muslim activities and views, as well as organisations

Controversies

Charity Commission

In 2014 the Tony Blair Faith Foundation was investigated by the Charity Commission after a former employee claimed Blair was using it as a 'think-tank' for his private office. The Commission said it was 'assessing' the concerns raised and will publish a report. Martin Bright worked for the Foundation as a website editor for five months and claimed Blair still works from a ministerial 'red-box system' (a sort of suitcase used for carrying documents around which are embossed with the Royal Cypher), employs five communications officers and operates a "government-in-waiting". Bright claimed Blair's "strident" positions on world affairs were "affecting the ability of his charities to work independently". A spokesperson for the foundation has denied Bright's claims and stressed that the Foundation is an "independent entity" governed by a board of independent trustees that meets its charitable objectives and abides by all regulations.[6]

Muslim Brotherhood

The foundation was criticised in 2014 when it was claimed that two advisers had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation that has been declared a terrorist group in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and who opened an office in the UK but moved to Austria after David Cameron asked MI5 and MI6 to investigate them. The two men in question are Dr Ismail Khudr Al-Shatti, an adviser to the Kuwaiti government and a leading member of the Kuwaiti branch of the Brotherhood and Mustafa Ceric, a Bosnian Muslim cleric who is linked to the global Muslim Brotherhood through his membership of the European Council for Fatwa and Research.[7]


People

Executive team

Trustees

Directors and Officers

Religious Advisory Council

  • Dr Ismail Khudr Al-Shatti, Advisor in Diwan of H.H. the Prime Minister of Kuwait and former President of the Gulf Institute for Futures and Strategic Studies
  • The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Richard Chartres, Lord Bishop of London
  • The Reverend David Coffey OBE, Global Ambassador BMS World Mission, Past President of the Baptist World Alliance
  • The Reverend Joel Edwards, Director of Micah Challenge International and former General Director of the Evangelical Alliance
  • Professor Jagtar Singh Grewal, former Chairman of the India Institute of Advanced Study and former Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University
  • Roshi Joan Halifax, Abbot of the Upaya Zen Center
  • Right Reverend Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Bishop of Kaduna
  • Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam of India and President of the All India Organization of Imams of Mosques
  • Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin
  • Anantanand Rambachan, Professor and Chair of the Religion Department at St. Olaf College, Minnesota
  • Rabbi David Rosen, Chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations
  • Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth
  • H.H. Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, President and Spiritual Head of Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh
  • Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh, Chairman, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha
  • The Reverend Dr Rick Warren, Founding and Senior Pastor of Saddleback Church and Founder of the P.E.A.C.E Coalition


Contact

UK Address: PO Box 60519,
London,
W2 7JU,
United Kingdom
US Address: 409 Prospect Street,
New Haven,
Connecticut,
06511
Phone: +44 (0)203 370 1959
Email: info@tonyblairfaithfoundation.org or mediabids@tonyblairfaithfoundation.org
Website: http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/

Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ Tony Blair Foundation, Supporting next generation, accessed 4 February 2015
  2. ↑ Tony Blair Foundation, Supporting Leaders, accessed 4 February 2015
  3. ↑ Tony Blair Foundation, Support Collaboration, accessed 4 February 2015
  4. ↑ Richard Eden Tony Blair puts his faith in Gail Rebuck Telegraph, 31 March 2013, accessed 4 February 2015
  5. ↑ Francis Beckett, David Hencke And Nick Kochan, Will Tony and Cherie get divorced? They lead separate lives amid claims that she still resents her treatment at No10 - and his closeness to Murdoch's ex-wife. Now friends are asking an explosive question, Daily Mail, 8 March 2015, accessed same day
  6. ↑ Lizzie Dearden Tony Blair Faith Foundation 'assessed' by charity watchdog after concerns raised about former PM's influence Independent, 07 September 2014, accessed 04 February 2015
  7. ↑ Wills Robinson Tony Blair's religious charity's 'links to extremism': Advisers claimed to be tied to the Muslim Brotherhood which is being investigated by British spies Daily Mail, 13 April 2014, accessed 4 February 2015
  8. ↑ Lucy Fisher Dame Gail Rebuck, widow of Philip Gould, announced as new Labour peer New Statesman, 8 August 2014, accessed 4 February 2015
  9. ↑ Pearson, Sir Michael Barber, accessed 4 February 2015
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