​Daily Mail issues apology to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust

A charity has received an apology from the Daily Mail after the newspaper described it as “pro-terrorist”.

The tabloid made the claim about the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) in a first edition headline on an article published on 27 May about the funding of the organisation responsible for a controversial EU referendum advert.

Produced by Operation Black Vote, the advert showed a white skinhead balanced on a see-saw with an older South Asian woman in a sari and the words: “A vote is a vote”.

It attracted criticism for its use of stereotypes, including from London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

The Mail reported that JRCT has given Operation Black Vote more than £100,000 over two years.

But the paper said it was happy to clarify that “while the JRCT is one of two organisations providing core funding to Operation Black Vote, it had no prior knowledge of the advert and did not pay for it”.

On the “pro-terrorist charity” slur, the paper said it was “happy to make clear” that the JRCT does not support or fund terrorism.

The JRCT previously found itself embroiled in a terrorism-related row when it was criticised for its funding links – subsequently severed – to advocacy group Cage, whose research director Asim Qureshi described the Islamic State killer Mohammed Emwazi, known in the tabloids as Jihadi John, as an “extremely gentle” and “beautiful young man”.

England’s Charity Commission investigated links between JRTC and Cage.

In March this year it published reports critical of the JRTC and the Roddick Foundation, which also funded Cage. It stated that while trustees at both funders had acted in good faith, they could not have been sure that their money was "used for exclusively charitable purposes”.