Should Parliamentary Interns be Paid For by Charities or Philanthropic Outfits?
Call me naïve but I have only learned this week that charities and philanthropic bodies fund parliamentary interns. It is a practice I find troubling, particularly when the charities have links with businesses, and even more so when such businesses are in receipt of, or seeking, government or council income.
Interest in this was sparked by a superb piece of journalism in London Centric by Polly Smythe and Jim Waterson concerning Criterion Capital, its billionaire owner Afiz Aziz and a tower block in Colliers Wood. For 11 years we lived in South Wimbledon and I used to shop in the ‘big Sainsbury’s’ in Colliers Wood where the unfortunate skyline was dominated by the monstrous black Colliers Wood Tower. The architectural historian Pevsner described the tower as being the ‘last outcrop of Croydon’. For years the black tower sat empty, the bane of Merton Council and an eyesore for residents. The whole area used to make me weep. Beneath ‘big Sainsburys’ lies the remains of Merton Priory – the feature of a recent Proud of Us video. What was once, and could have been again a beautiful, green and interesting part of South West London, is instead an oppressive example of the ugliness of public spaces and the degraded nature of modern civic architecture.
So when owners of the tower Afif Aziz’s Criterion Capital, and Merton Council redeveloped the tower from 2014 onwards, cladding the black exterior in glass, views improved marginally. The tower was renamed Britannia Point, turned into flats which rent out at around £1,700 a month for one-bedroom. However residents in the entire tower block received eviction notices recently. Criterion Capital intended to turf everyone out with no-fault evictions before the renters’ right Bill comes in May. Criterion’s plan was instead to turn the privately rented flats into the much more lucrative temporary accommodation paid for by councils using public funds. Thanks to the tremendous journalism of Polly Smythe and Jim Waterson and the involvement in local politicians, the plan has been shelved for now.
So back to the parliamentary interns. Asif Aziz, owner of Criterion Capital established The Aziz Foundation as a family foundation in 2015. The website states:
Our work is guided by principles of social justice, compassion and cooperation. We recognise that Muslims make an invaluable contribution to the fabric of this country and we wish to live in a Britain where Muslims are valued and empowered to fulfil their true potential and continue making positive contributions to their communities and beyond.
As part of its philanthropic work, the Aziz Foundation pays for parliamentary interns for a number of MPs. Naz Shah MP received approximately £24,000 for two interns from March-December 2025, Afzal Khan MP £18,414 for an intern from September 2023 to July 2024 and Chi Onwurah MP, £23,302.50 for an intern from October 2023 to October 2024.
As I said, call me naïve but the placement of parliamentary interns with links to large businesses seems fraught with the possibility of undue, even unconscious influence. Twenty MPs (13 still sitting) have received funds from the Christian Action Research and Education, CARE to pay for interns. The Patchwork Foundation (with a stated remit of having more disadvantaged and minority communities in politics) boasts of having 60 participants in its political internship programme. There will be others. Danny Chambers my Liberal Democrat MP (we now live in rural Hampshire) is in receipt of £2,222.22 from the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy to pay for an intern one day a week. Why? What’s in it for them?
I’m sure all MPs will insist they are not open to persuasion and have firm ideas of their own, but it must be possible that some elected officials will inadvertently find themselves being used to fulfil some outside agenda? Surely the whole operation is like advertising: we all think we’re immune to it, but it obviously works, which is why companies spend money on it. Why bother funding interns unless their involvement influences the MPs in some way – even it’s just a fuzzy warm feeling: “I’ve got a free member of staff, this organisation / charity / foundation must be good.”
Joanna Gray is a writer and confidence coach.
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Too many people attach themselves to Parliament. Far too many have passes.
these paid-for interns are even more dangerous to democracy than lobbyists, and that is saying something!
It’s all income from government. Local government is government. Just because some of the money is raised from local rather than central taxation does not somehow make it not-government.
To answer the question in the headline: Should Parliamentary Interns be Paid For by Charities or Philanthropic Outfits?
No. Hell no. If they want to ’employ’ interns then put the cost through the books in a proper way, not as some ‘donation’ from un-elected activists.
Let me guess – most of these ‘foundations’ are left-leaning? And should any be peceived as right wing, the Far Left harpies will be screaming and having hissy fits?
Some company ‘sponsoring’ MP staff members means MPs don’t have to use their expenses allowance for that. In other words, this is just a way to channel money to some MP.