What is going on at the Young Foundation? Sources close to the trendy “do-tank” tell The Londoner that the organisation is on course for a £1 million loss this year and that staff have been told they face redundancy.
Some disgruntled wonks are claiming this is the result of new chief executive Simon Willis’s decision to recruit 11 new senior staff members — many on not ungenerous packages — including former Gordon Brown aide James Plunkett and European Commission adviser Filippo Addarii.
But Willis is unrepentant, telling The Londoner “what you’ve been told is a very strange version of the truth”. While he concedes that the foundation may well make a loss this year, he claims it is “on target” financially and that “we’ve set aside £500,000 of our reserves to hire new staff if we meet our targets”. Is it Brown’s man or the EU Commission advising on the accounts?
