Political Links
The League has long claimed to be politically neutral, but has a history of facing redress by the Charity Commission for being wide of the mark in its campaigning. In addition, several League staff have close political links. Chief Executive Joe Duckworth is a former trade union leader. Head of Campaigns Louise Robertson is the partner of John Park, a Labour member of the Scottish Parliament, whilst both her predecessors, Steve Taylor and Mike Hobday have very close links to the Labour Party, being a CLP secretary and former PPC, respectively. Head of Finance Nicola Hill formerly worked for the late Tony Banks MP. Political officer Joshua Kaile is a member of the Labour Party, and website officer James Dixon is a well known left wing activist formerly employed by a student union and the website, Political Scrapbook. Both employees in Wales (Robin Lewis and Amy Kitcher) are politically active, as councillors in the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. Former CEO Douglas Batchelor is a lifelong Labour supporter. Another employee is a niece of Nye Bevan. Amongst board members, chair John Cooper QC stood as a Labour candidate in the 1992 election, and Labour MP Chris Williamson is a former chair, whilst many board members are Labour Party members. Lorraine Platt, organiser of 'Conservatives Against Fox Hunting', is the only known Conservative on the staff or board. Vice-Presidents include Labour politicians Robert Evans, Kerry McCarthy, and Lib Dem Adrian Sanders. Evans, together with Ian Cawsey were unsuccessful applicants for the CEO role when Batchelor retired in 2011.
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