David Cameron has said it was “the right thing to do” to give the troubled charity Kids Company a £3 million grant just days before it was forced to close over allegations of financial mismanagement.
The Prime Minister has come under pressure for his close links to the crisis-hit charity and faced claims he was “mesmerised” by Kids Company founder, Camilla Batmanghelidjh.
The charity shut down earlier this week after facing claims it had misspent millions of pounds worth of donations, including some of the £37m it had received from the taxpayer over the last decade. Donors withdrew their funds, meaning it could no longer operate.
But Mr Cameron insisted the latest £3m handover of Government funds represented “one last chance” to save the floundering organisation. He said he was “sad” to see the “brilliant work” of Kids Company come to an end.
As the crisis surrounding the charity deepened, Ms Batmanghelidjh was last night forced to deny allegations from former employees that sexual assaults of children using its services were mishandled.
It comes as The Independent revealed that a multimillionaire Tory donor was involved in the campaign to persuade ministers to give a £3m grant to Kids Company, which was against the advice of civil servants.
James Lupton, who is the Conservatives’ co-treasurer and donated more than £1m to the party last year, is understood to have met with ministers on behalf of the charity as its financial woes deepened.
The Prime Minister with Camila Batmanghelidjh, the founder of the charity 'Kids Company', in 2010
Earlier today Ms Batmanghelidjh condemned ministers for claiming they were unaware that the £3m grant had been partially used for salaries. She said this claim was “not true” and said she had email exchanges that proved the Government was “fully aware” of the situation.
Read more:
Civil servants were embedded in Kids Company for a year in bid to restore charity's finances
Kids Company: Tory donor involved in campaign to 'persuade ministers to give charity £3m grant'
Kids Company sex abuse claims were not passed on, says alleged victim
7 QUOTES WHICH MIGHT SHOW WHY CAMILLA BATMANGHELIDJH IS SO UNPOPULAR WITH THE UK GOVERNMENT
Mr Cameron, on a visit to the National Citizen Service (NCS), a social enterprise helping teenagers with training and life skills, said: "The Government thought it was the right thing to do to give this charity one last chance of restructuring to try and make sure it could continue its excellent work.
"Sadly that didn't happen not least because of the allegations that were made and private donors withdrawing their money.
"But I think the Government was right to say, 'Let's have one last go,' to try and keep this charity going, given the excellent work it’s done for so many young people."
He added: "Obviously I'm sad that this charity that's done brilliant work with young children has come to an end.
"The most important thing now is we look after the young children that Kids Company was helping in their lives.
"So it's sad it's come to an end, it did good work and that's why the Government supported it."
Reports since the closure claimed that the Government’s decision to plug funding for Kids Company was triggered by the charity using government grants to pay staff.
But speaking in an interview with LBC, Ms Batmanghelidjh said: "I have in my possession an email exchange between us and the Government where they were fully aware we were waiting for their money to come for the salary to be paid.
"This £3 million was part of a repackaging grant so we would have to shrink Kids Company in order to make it sustainable. It is very disingenuous to claim they did not know."
Ms Batmanghelidjh claimed Minister Oliver Letwin had told her he would find £20 million for Kids Company.
She said: "Because I had warned everyone we would not be able to fundraise any more because we had been charity of the year for practically every bank, we basically ran out of people we could go to."
Ms Batmanghelidjh also said she felt she was under attack because she was not a typical executive.
She said: "Because I don't wear a suit and I don't carry a briefcase, I haven't sort of bought into the corporate packaging.
"People assume, because I'm a woman and I work with children, that then I don't understand figures and I can't organise systems. Actually, if you really think about it, I organised with my team and we raised £163.4 million.
"That requires quite a lot of work and last year it came from 7,000 different sources. Administratively we must be pretty good to get that amount of money in."
