One of the elements of the story that has blown up over the last few days is the response from No 10 and other political power bases regarding the support from our Government towards a charity which employed a small number of people who engaged with sex workers in Haiti in 2010. The handful of people involved in this appalling behaviour included the person leading the charities relief efforts in Haiti at the time. The news suggests that No 10 is considering if it will support the charity in the future, in part playing to the audience amongst the far right in the Tories who want to see the Foreign Aid budget brought to an end. One element relates to agencies that receive public money and how they act. The question this raises in my mind is how would No 10 react if it became known that a large business involved in delivering public services in the UK was to carry out the same sort of activities? I recall over many years hearing from very reliable sources how when certain conferences were due into Brighton & Hove, that the numbers of sex workers drawn into our city grew in anticipation of extra business. These events include political conferences organised by the Labour Party and the TUC. Although the Conservative Party has rarely visited our city we only have to turn to the stories of the Presidents Club to understand that the use of prostitutes and abuse of non prostitutes exists amongst parts of the Conservative Party. As local newspapers have told us, some footballers have got involved in sex workers in the past and the same is probably true amongst other sectors of our society. My question is will No 10 apply the same sort of rigour and the same standards to businesses that the Government contracts with as they are currently applying to Oxfam? Will they apply the same level of scrutiny to their own Ministers such as Nadhim Zahawi who attended the Presidents Club? It is clear from the reports that I have heard that once the stories emerged within Oxfam, in 2011, that the charity either sacked those involved or they resigned. Despite this No 10 appears to be questioning if they should continue to fund the charity. How many businesses or politicians who have acted in a similar manner and who have retained their roles are being placed under a similar level of scrutiny?

I do not oppose the idea of holding charities to account for their actions, after all that is what Trustees are responsible for. However it is vital that our Government handles such matters in a even handed way and does not use this crisis and poor behaviour to satisfy the political objectives of some members on the far right and try to close down foreign aid activities.