A news report yesterday has called into question the naming of a lobby group think tank which was formed by Daniel Hannan, my MEP. The operating name chosen was the Institute for Free Trade or IFT. Daniel apparently should have known better as apparently the ‘Use of the title is protected by law and reserved for established organisations “that typically undertake research at the highest level, or are professional bodies of the highest standing”. It can be used only after permission has been granted by Companies House and the Secretary of State for Business.’ Apparently if Daniel and his chums don’t change the name, they may be fined for describing the organisation as an “institute” without permission. As the report goes on to point out, it is not just Daniel who should be embarrassed over this, as Boris Johnson allowed the IFT to hold its public launch event at the Foreign Office in the Map Room and guests included Cabinet members Michael Gove, Liam Fox and of course Boris. Apparently ‘The registered name for the IFT avoids the word “institute”; instead the organisation calls itself the Initiative for International Trade Ltd. Companies House said any company that was trading under the title needed permission. It said it was aware of the IFT’s use of the term and would be contacting the company.’

If the criteria for the use of the word Institute is bodies “that typically undertake research at the highest level, or are professional bodies of the highest standing” then one would expect that this assessment is not carried out just once at the beginning of the process. The example that comes to my mind is the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). Formed in 1955 it may well have passed all the relevant tests at the time and been fully approved of by Peter Thorneycroft who was the relevant Minister at the time. However it has now fallen into disrepute and indeed I wonder if the formation of the IFT is intended to allow the IEA to return to focusing on economic matters that are not biased towards Brexit as the IEA has been for the last decade. So the question in my head is how does one challenge the criteria for the use of the word Institute in the name of the IEA? It is carrying on as a charity even though it has broken the rules of charities by being deeply political and refusing to disclose its funding for what is a political lobby group. Now this information above has come to light some of us need to challenge its right to be called an Institute.

If anyone wishes to question my judgement regarding the iea in terms of its lack of professionalism, I once received a tweet from Mark Littlewood, Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs referring to me as “Another smug, whiney, ill informed, statist, “know it all”, pompous, up themselves, utterly pathetic, left wing lunatic” Whilst other people may agree with Mark’s analysis, it seems unprofessional to make such as statement in public.

A postscript came from someone on twitter who shared this link to this indepth and fascinating blog on the history of Think Tanks and in particular the IEA.