Progressive Policies Forum

The Progressive Policies Forum (PPF) is a political organization, set up by British Labour Party adviser John Underwood, that channelled funds of over £50,000 to Peter Hain's campaign in the May 2007 Labour Party Deputy Leadership contest.^[1] The news emerged in January 2008 that Hain had failed to declare over £100,000 of donations: the sources of unreported finance, including PPF, therefore became of interest to journalists and politicians.

Gregory McEwen, a solicitor, is the PPF's single director and only shareholder. Westminster insiders, and even MPs supporting Hain's bid for the deputy leadership, appear to be ignorant of the organization's existence. Although it is sometimes characterized as a "think tank", it has no employees and "has not published any work since its inception in December 2006".^[2] Media reports also noted that the organization has no website.

The money provided to Hain breaks down as:

• Willie Nagel (South African diamond broker): £5,000 plus an interest-free loan of £25,000
• Isaac Kaye (Irish domiciled owner of Israeli healthcare business, largest supplier of generic drugs to the NHS): £15,000
• Michael Cuddy (Welsh businessman): £10,000

References