Former Charity Commission chief executive Andrew Hind has sent a letter for publication to the Sunday Times defending Commission chair Dame Suzi Leather against what he calls “scurrilous briefings” against her in recent press coverage.

Last week the Sunday Times and other right-leaning papers carried stories reporting that ministers were threatening to sack Dame Suzi unless the Charity Commission ends its “politically motivated” attacks on private schools.

The Sunday Times quoted one government source as saying Leather’s appointment is “in the gift of the Secretary of State” and that he is considering removing her from the post unless the regulator takes “a different approach” to the public benefit of charitable schools.

In his letter to the editor, Andrew Hind said anyone was entitled to take the view that the Commission got the law wrong when it made its decisions about schools. But, he said, “it is completely inaccurate to allege that Dame Suzi Leather has ever sought to politicise the Commission’s decision-making processes”.
 
“I sat in hundreds of meetings with her over the four years we worked together as chair and chief executive.  She is never motivated by party politics in the way that she undertakes public office.  
 
“It is clearly essential that the Commission operates independently from the government of the day and that it is above the party political fray.  Suzi has kept it that way during her time as chair of the Commission.  She is an objective regulator, making decisions with her board in the public interest, and in line with the Commission’s legal duties.  Those scurrilously briefing against her are not only wrong, they are damaging the reputation of an outstanding public servant and the Commission itself.”