Stanley Kalms

From Powerbase
Revision as of 16:35, 13 May 2016 by Melissa Jones (talk | contribs) (Donations: needs date)
Jump to: navigation, search
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[1].

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.[2]

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. [3] Renewing One Nation was a predecessor to the Centre for Social Justice [4] 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.' [5]

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"[6].

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'.[7]

Donations

  • Vote Leave - Electoral Commission registered a donation of £10,000 by Kalms to the anti-EU group [8]

Affiliations

Carlton Club | Centre for Policy Studies | Stanley Kalms Foundation | Conservative Friends of Israel | Dixons | DSG International | Conservative Party | Traditional Alternatives Foundation

External resources

Notes

  1. Finance, Dixons through the ages, The Telegraph, 05-April-2006, Accessed 03-January-2009
  2. Kirsty Walker, Former Tory chairman Stanley Kalms faces expulsion from party after 'lending vote to UKIP', Mail Online, 5 June 2009.
  3. Chris Cook, 'Christian Tories rewrite party doctrine', Financial Times, 12 February 2010
  4. Chris Cook, 'Christian Tories rewrite party doctrine', Financial Times, 12 February 2010
  5. Internet Archive, Renewing One Nation, RENEWING CIVIL SOCIETY How Conservatives will empower Britain's good neighbours, 23 July 2001
  6. Andrew Pierce, Cameron faces revolt over Israel, The Times, 03-August-2006, Accessed 03-January-2009
  7. Antony Lerman, 2012. The Making and Unmaking of a Zionist: a personal and political journey, London: Pluto, p.167.
  8. Electoral Commissions, Donor Search, accessed 13 May 2016