Blog Site Archive

Here's a previous post from the blog site archive which delves into the background of of a private company known as OOSGAB, the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown.

Guido Fawkes (7 April 2014)

The Guido Fawkes blog site has gained a well deserved reputation for shining a light on Westminster politics, more often that not from a right of centre point of view, but what the hey - because politicians from the left and right of the political spectrum deserve to be held to account.

So, here's a recent post to the site - www.order-order.com - highlighting some of the work of OOGASB (the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown) which I previously understood to be a charity but is, after all, just another private company limited by guarantee.

Now this means that OOGASB is not subject to the rules of the Charity Commission which cover governance and financial matters so unlike a registered charity there is relatively little information on how OOSGAB operates and conducts its affairs.

What I don't understand is why Gordon Brown doesn't resign his seat at Westminster and follow the lead of his former friend and comrade, Tony Blair, then no one would be interested in what he does with his private time.

Yet as things stand there are legitimate questions about how a full-time Labour MP who draws a public salary can spend so much of his time out of the country on matters which have no direct connection to his responsibilities in the Westminster Parliament.

Good Causes (16 October 2012)

As I said the other day - Gordon Brown responded very quickly to the article in The Times newspaper about the outside earnings of Westminster MPs - see post dated 14 October 2012 'Part-Time Workers'

Now I think that Gordon's explanation is quite pathetic I have to say - because the key issue is whether or not his charitable works for the oddly named 'Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown' - interfere with his day job as an MP.

And I think that any fair minded person would say that Gordon is in effect a part-time MP - because he spends so much of his time doing other things.

70 days a year in Abu Dhabi, for example, on behalf of the New York University (Abu Dhabi campus) - for which he is paid an additional £70,000.

As far as Gordon's charitable works are concerned - they only become an issue because he already has a day job as an MP - but I can imagine the furore if a civil servant or some other paid public servant tried to behave in the same way.

Lots of people do work for good causes - although they don't always wear their charitable hearts so publicly on their sleeves. 

What I woulkd like to know about the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown is:

1 Whether the charity employees anyone and if so, who? 
2 How is the charity governed - who sits on the charity's board?     
3 How much of the charity funds go to good causes and how much is spent on expenses?
4 What kind of expenses does the charity incur, e.g. on air travel and hotel accommodation? 

Gordon Brown's response to The Times 

This article reports that, according to the register of members’ interests, Gordon Brown had an “annual income” in the year to July 2012 of more than £900,000 from work as an academic, author and speechmaker. The accompanying graphic (see tab) states that more than £33,000 of this money was paid to charity and that the rest was not for personal gain but “goes towards the running costs of his office and staff”. We are happy to make it clear that Mr Brown’s only personal income is his salary as an MP; he has declined the pension that he is entitled to as a former Prime Minister. All money from his speeches and writings goes to the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown to fund his and his wife’s charitable and public service work, including, as its website states, £508,729 in charitable donations in a continuing programme of disbursements. Mr Brown has asked us to make clear that not one penny goes to him. We are happy to do so.

Guido Fawkes 

EXC: Gordon Brown Office Has £10,000-a-Week “Expenses”Raises Over £3 Million, Gives Less Than £1 Million to Charity

• Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown has £10,000-a-week expenses
• Not a registered charity, two thirds of funds raised spent on expenses
• Less than  £1 million given to charity out of over £3 million raised
• Vanity project lets  Gordon and Sarah enjoy jet-set premier life-style of first class flights and five star hotels

Gordon Brown has since leaving Downing Street raised over £3 million to support charitable projects yet has given less than a £1 million to charity. Nearly three-quarters of the money raised has gone on his office and globe-trotting travel expenses that run at over £10,000-a-week - allowing Brown to vainly swan around in Davos like old times. Gordon Brown always insists that he does not profit from the arrangement and that all the income goes either directly to charities or to support other charitable public service projects.
The Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown is not a registered charity, it is a private limited company. Guido’s investigation reveals – by piecing together some 133 declarations made in Gordon Brown’s parliamentary register of interests – a picture of the until now private accounts since the company was set up by Sarah. Brown has declared to parliament that the total amount paid to the company since 2010 is £3,605,197. According to a recent announcement on the company’s website, only £912,702 has so far been given to charity after three years. Leaving over £2 million to be accounted for when according to the latest available records the company had only £160,978 in cash at the bank. You can see an itemised spreadsheet compiled from Guido’s investigations here.

The company admits it budgets £550,000-a-year for expenses to meet salaries, accommodation costs and staff expenses. Gordon can be paid as much as $100,000 for a single speech in America to investors at finance conferences. By funnelling his speaker fees through the company he does not have to pay tax on the income, even though it covers the £10,000-a-week expenses for Gordon and Sarah to maintain the jet-set premier lifestyle they were accustomed to when in Downing Street, travelling first class around the world and staying in top five star hotels attended to by flunkies. Something Gordon would not be able to do on his backbench MP’s salary…