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.
Contents
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[1].
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.[2]
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.
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).[3]
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.[4]
He was the Director of the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank from 1991 to 2001.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]
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. [8] Renewing One Nation was a predecessor to the Centre for Social Justice [9] 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.' [10]
Honours
Kalms has close connections to the University of Buckingham. He received an honorary degree from Buckingham,[2] and Chris Woodhead was the Sir Stanley Kalms Professor of Education. He received his knighthood in the 1996 New Years Honours[11][12] 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.[13]
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"[14].
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'.[15]
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.
Notes
- ↑ Finance, Dixons through the ages, The Telegraph, 05-April-2006, Accessed 03-January-2009
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Who's Who: Kalms, Baron, Harold Stanley Kalms. 1 December 2007. Oxford University Press
- ↑ A Time for Change. 1992. The Stanley Kalms foundation
- ↑ Kirsty Walker, Former Tory chairman Stanley Kalms faces expulsion from party after 'lending vote to UKIP', Mail Online, 5 June 2009.
- ↑ List of companies related to Baron Kalms – http://www.flixens.com/director/harold-stanley-kalms
- ↑ United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).
- ↑ Rightwing thinktank pulls funds for Commons groups after disclosure row.
- ↑ Chris Cook, 'Christian Tories rewrite party doctrine', Financial Times, 12 February 2010
- ↑ Chris Cook, 'Christian Tories rewrite party doctrine', Financial Times, 12 February 2010
- ↑ Internet Archive, Renewing One Nation, RENEWING CIVIL SOCIETY How Conservatives will empower Britain's good neighbours, 23 July 2001
- ↑ Template:London Gazette
- ↑ Template:London Gazette
- ↑ Template:London Gazette
- ↑ Andrew Pierce, Cameron faces revolt over Israel, The Times, 03-August-2006, Accessed 03-January-2009
- ↑ Antony Lerman, 2012. The Making and Unmaking of a Zionist: a personal and political journey, London: Pluto, p.167.
- ↑ Electoral Commission, Stanley Kalms Donation Search, accessed 20 June 2016
