Think-tank may face charity inquiry

The Institute of Public Policy Research - the left-leaning think-tank which commissioned this week's controversial business leaders report - may be referred to the Charities Commission for abusing its tax- exempt status.

Tessa Keswick, director of the Centre for Policy Studies, the Tory equivalent, which is not a charity, is understood to have sent a memorandum about the IPPR to the Charities Commission, alleging it is politically biased. And, in a letter in yesterday's Financial Times she accused the IPPR of being a tool of the Labour Party, and listed several Labour worthies among its trustees, including Baroness Blackstone. Mrs Keswick's attack parallels that of the Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine, who earlier this week pilloried the IPPR business report for alleged Labour bias.