RACE WAR POLITICS

The Inland Revenue has banned ‘shoe box’ charity collections for Operation Christmas Child, as the organisation which organises the collections, Samaritans Purse, has been accused of distributing Bible stories.

A memo from Michael Scott, assistant director of the National Insurance Contributions Office in Newcastle, tells staff:

‘We are not dictating who you can or cannot support, but you will appreciate that as a department we cannot be seen to promote activities that do not broadly fit with our philosophy or which could bring us into disrepute by association.’

A spokesman for the Inland Revenue said:

‘We have very clear workplace policies regarding the importance of valuing difference. When an organisation demonstrates evidence of being at odds with those core values we cannot make special provision for that organisation to be supported on our premises. To do so would be hypocritical and at odds with our diversity commitments.’

The ban was imposed after complaints from trades unionists.

The charity had been running the appeal since the late 1990s. It sends more than a million shoe boxes from Britain to children in countries overseas, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Romania, Serbia, Mozambique and Sudan.

Donors are asked to pack the boxes with a cuddly toy, a toothbrush and toothpaste, soap and flannel, notepads, colouring books, picture books, pencils and crayons, tennis balls, caps and gloves, puzzles and sweets.

A spokesman for the Church of England, Lou Henderson, said:

‘It seems unfortunate for any organisation to make it difficult for their employees to make a Christian expression of generosity. It does seem a strange way of promoting diversity.’