Nancy Kelly Quits Stonewall

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse” is a general truism.

You'd think this would apply in spades to lawyers.

Perhaps the old saw needs updating - "ignorance of the actual law is no excuse”.

but "we were following Stonewall best practice" isn't going to fly as a defense when those claims arise.

I wonder if stupidity as a defence has ever worked?

So is Stonewall just all about the T then?
No surprise... bye bye see ya Nancy!

Given that such a high profile charity doesn’t have a successor lined up ready to go suggests (a) no succession planning in place and (b) this was an unexpected resignation / jump before you’re pushed situation.

See ya Nancy.

Hopefully not though.

Organisations have been dropping Stonewall training left, right and centre and with the Bailey decision, its possible they've lost even more. Getting tangled with Stonewall is now a financial risk.

Through the Baily and LGBA cases they are seeing now that it isn't that at all, and that not only Stonewall can and will give them advice that can lead to discrimination claims, but "we were following Stonewall best practice" isn't going to fly as a defense when those claims arise.

AND - when the ordure hits the fan, Stonewall will quickly step back behind the parapet and let the organisation get covered in crap.

As happened when Allison Bailey took Garden Court Chambers to the tribunal. Suddenly, Stonewall was nowhere to be seen, and was backtracking wildly - and because everything was by implication, rather than clear, concise, written instruction (wouldn't you think a firm of LAWYERS would have insisted on that?), then there was nowhere to hide.

Allison Bailey, Maya Forstater, Bev Jackson and Kate Harris - they are cut from the same cloth as the Suffragettes. We all owe them so much for their courage and determination in the face of horrendous odds.

Best suggestion here for Nancy's next job.

https://twitter.com/elsie_bevan/status/1678402079650377729

I wonder if Bev or Kate would take the job...

I would be delighted if Izzard got the job. Utterly delighted.

Susi/Eddie? Not many acting roles around these days for a middle aged person with questionable social skills and appalling dress sense.

Intriguing👋

They last did an annual return for the year ending 31 March 2022. This was submitted 24 January 2023.

Note: Prior to covid their annual returns were for year Sept - Sept.

Note the pattern from when Kelley took over (she started 1 June 2020). The first year looks ok (but the return for 2021 covers 18 months rather than 12) - it seems to peak. Then 2022 numbers were great.

Given we know that there has been a steady loss in income from government contracts and grants SINCE 2022 I can't see those figures looking great. And since the GCC case started in 2021 I can't see that income from other sources going up.

I'll add it in, @JanesLittleGirl. A couple of GPs as well.

Westboro Baptists seem to be her most logical successors.

Yeah, I was just thinking about this today.

Stonewall has been acting like a standards body for diversity but isn't one. So companies who are used to following defined standards bodies and regulators just assumed following Stonewall's standards was best practice and would ensure they avoid discrimination claims. Through the Baily and LGBA cases they are seeing now that it isn't that at all, and that not only Stonewall can and will give them advice that can lead to discrimination claims, but "we were following Stonewall best practice" isn't going to fly as a defense when those claims arise.

Can I nominate Sarah Jane Barker as the ideal candidate?

Can you imagine who'll be applying? My fever dream shortlist will end up looking like

Fox botherer
A soon-to-be former BBC employee
LOJ
Wee Mhairi
Nic and Peter (job share)
Dr Christian

She was getting paid around 100 grand for being CEO I believe. To be honest she was a gift to our side. Not particularly convincing publicly and nowhere near as cunning as Ruth Hunt at winning support behind the scenes.

Wonder who the next person will be. With any luck it will be a person mainly in it to make some cash who will mouth the right noises but will not do anything effective, or a bungling zealot who will alienate more people. Too much to hope it will be someone sane.

Bailey does seem to have destroyed the business model. Here’s our great advice; follow it and end up paying aggravated damages in circumstances of maximum public embarrassment.
thank you, no.

Or as Mr Bennett said,

"That will do extremely well, child. You have delighted us long enough. Let the other young ladies have time to exhibit."

If I'm cynical, it might also down to funding decreasing. Organisations have been dropping Stonewall training left, right and centre and with the Bailey decision, its possible they've lost even more. Getting tangled with Stonewall is now a financial risk.
They'll also almost certainly have lost small donations from their core supporter base of the LGB. I suspect a lot of people have simply quietly stopped their DDs.
I wonder when their accounts are published.

She’s clearly been given the opportunity to leave on her own terms; she’ll likely be getting a nice wee payoff too. Her Twitter thread screams ‘fuck you, look what you’re missing’ to the board who’ve kicked her out.

Good to see she created a handy list of the failures of Stonewall under her leadership

Seat in the Lords next to her predecessor?

It does seem sudden, especially the announcement coming this week. I do wonder if there's been internal turmoil at Stonewall. Surely there are at least some people left there who believe in gay rights?