Daily Telegraph report misleading

24th January 2012

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The British Forces Foundation would like to make it clear that the Charity, and therefore Katherine Jenkins a Trustee, has never, and will never, charge the MoD for its morale-boosting trips to visit troops on the front-line in Afghanistan. A report in the Daily Telegraph on January 24th - headlined Shooting Stars: MoD's £400,000 on celebrities - stated that celebrities embarking on morale-boosting visits to troops serving in Afghanistan cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds in 2011. It went on to cite visits from Katherine Jenkins, David Beckham and Cheryl Cole. The British Forces Foundation is funded solely by donations from public sources with nothing from the government purse and would not like to be confused with the Government contract that does fund entertainment, believed to be worth £3.3million per annum. Through The British Forces Foundation, stars like Katherine Jenkins commit to support the troops on the front-line – as well as UK based shows for those recently returned from operational duties as part of decompression, visiting hospitals and a raft of other projects – without charge of any kind. Anything that successfully boosts the morale of British troops serving on the frontline is of course welcome but the Daily Telegraph article, by grouping the activities of various organisations together, does a great disservice not only to the generosity of The BFF’s public support but also to the magnificent stars who continue to do so much for our Charity with no view to publicity. It is also worth noting that Katherine Jenkins did not go to Afghanistan in 2011 as the report states. Katherine’s last attempt to get out to troops in Afghanistan was Christmas 2010 and had to be abandoned due to bad weather. Read the Daily Telegraph report