"The Charity Commission needs to look at Oxfam's behaviour over Gaza and decide whether it is political" says Tony Brown, the LPUK candidate for Mayor of London.

"Oxfam's Chiswick bookshop is inviting people to sign a petition calling for a ceasefire in Gaza: surely that has to be judged as political activity of the kind that is incompatible with charitable status?" asks Tony  

"This week as I regularly do, I popped into my local Oxfam bookshop just near Turnham Green station. I like buying books from them, they are good value and I am supporting the charity", Tony says. "This time there was a piece of paper in the window inviting me to sign a petition inside which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Whatever one's views on the Hamas attack and Israel's response, surely there can be no more political a topic? Yet as I understand the UK's rules about charities, part of the deal is that in return for their special tax exempt status, they are not supposed to be political. The Charity Commission should therefore surely be looking into whether this is a breach of the rules and consider bringing them into line?" Tony explains. "And if their behaviour is within the rules, then what on earth would constitute a breach of the rules about not being political?"

Libertarian Tony did raise the issue with the Manager at the time: "in fairness to her, she did say she would be emailing Oxfam Head office about what I had raised." he explains. 

Tony who is a history graduate from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge did go on to peruse their history section and bought books about the battle of Flodden in 1513 and 'Les Parisiennes', a study of the almost intolerable pressures on the women of Paris resulting from the Second World War and the Nazi occupation.