Nick Hurd voiced his "respect and love" for the charity sector in his farewell speech at the NCVO summer reception yesterday, and urged charities to cut Brooks Newmark some slack over his 'knitting and politics' comment.
NCVO used its annual summer party this year to mark Hurd’s contribution as charities minister, in the wake of his resignation in July after four years in the role and two before that as shadow minister.
He was welcomed to the podium by NCVO chair Martyn Lewis, who praised his great knowledge of and enthusiasm for the sector, and described him as “undoubtedly the best charities minister that we have ever had”.
Lewis presented him with a framed Steve Bell cartoon that satirised the Big Society (pictured below), which Hurd accepted in good humour.
His opening gambit had the audience chuckling from the outset: “You lot have been a lot nicer about me dead than alive.”
But he soon switched into serious, almost sentimental mode: “Thank you so much for everything over the years. You were extraordinarily generous to me as a sector when I started as a rookie coming into the job. These last six years have been the most rewarding of my professional life and I look back on them with huge pride.
“At a time when we are seeing so much evidence of what the human species can do to each other that is terrible, I was given the opportunity week after week, month after month, community after community, to go and see human nature at its best. I found it so invigorating and so stimulating and so exciting.”
He admitted that his understanding of the sector at the start of his time in post was “superficial, borderline patronising”, but “six years later I leave with a very profound sense of just how fundamental the voluntary sector is to the way this country works and how it can work a lot better. I thank you for that.
“The last six years will undoubtedly shape the rest of my life, whatever I choose to do.”
He went on to share his belief that “the stars are realigning” and that “we are living a moment in time where the public sector needs to think and act differently, the private sector realises it has to act differently to regain the trust of the public, and the social sector has to think about adapting and working differently and working with others”.
He said it was a crucial time for the three sectors to develop new cooperative models of operating that can do a much better job for society than existing ones.
“I am so keen that we are able to seize this moment and I admit I am worried about losing the momentum.”
He concluded with: “My respect and love for the sector remains undimmed and I thank you all for keeping my feet to the fire and for your friendship and support over the years.”
‘Cut Brooks some slack’
Hurd also urged the audience to give his successor Brooks Newmark a break over his now-infamous remark that charities ought to “stick to their knitting” and stay out of politics.
“I know Brooks has whipped up a storm with his remarks and I also know 100 per cent that he didn't intend to. So please show him the same generosity you showed me in those early days and cut him some slack, he is one of the most decent people in politics and his heart is absolutely in the right place.”
