National Trust going in the wrong direction, warns former chairman

The Daily Telegraph reports on an intervention by Sir William Proby, former Chairman of the National Trust, after the publication of a new report by Restore Trust’s former Director, Zewditu Gebreyohanes:

The National Trust is “going in the wrong direction”, a former chairman of the charity has said in an unprecedented intervention.

Sir William Proby said he had “been reluctant to criticise my successors” but added that there were “serious flaws” in the way that the organisation was being run.

His comments came in response to a report that accused the trust of an “abuse of power and a subversion of democracy” over changes to voting at its annual meeting.

The report, entitled National Distrust: The End of Democracy in the National Trust, called for ministers to introduce legislation to “prohibit all anti-democratic measures” and for the Charity Commission to open an inquiry.

It identified recent changes as areas of concern, including to the system of voting at annual meetings, which it said gave unfair advantage to the management’s preferences and limited attendance.

The report was written by Zewditu Gebreyohanes, a senior researcher at the Legatum Institute think tank and the former head of Restore Trust, a members’ campaign group, who told The Telegraph the charity’s leadership had “actively … stifled dissent from members”.