Michael Ball breaks silence on Captain Tom’s charity scandal

On By Littum

Singer Michael Ball has addressed the scandal surrounding a charity set up in Captain Sir Tom Moore’s honour, saying he is “disappointed” by a report which found it was “disturbed”.

Ball sang with the late veteran on his charity single, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, which raised funds for NHS Charities Together during the pandemic.

Shown on ITVs Good morning UK, the 62-year-old said it was “almost like I don’t want to talk about my association” after it was found that Captain Tom’s family “repeatedly benefited” from the Captain Tom Foundation.

A damning report published this week found that Captain Tom’s daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband, Colin, had allowed the public to “understandably feel misled” after sales of the Second World War veteran’s autobiography were not donated to the charity.

It also found “serious and repeated instances of misconduct and/or management” in the administration of the charity by the couple’s conduct and actions.

There were no results for the charity single.

Michael Ball said he was disappointed by the report's findings from a charity set up in Captain Tom's name

Michael Ball said he was disappointed by the report’s findings from a charity set up in Captain Tom’s name (Getty)

When asked about his reaction to the report, Ball said he was “disappointed … and if you take yourself back to what happened in that time, I’m doing my radio show on Radio 2, just come back with Covid , we do” don’t know what’s going to happen.

“I hear about this story about him, get him on the radio, we have a bond, the money starts coming in and it grew, and then I got this idea for this record.

“It’s totally, also from Tom, totally altruistic, totally just a focus, something for people to commit to, to show the good, and now it’s almost as if I don’t want to talk about my association.

“It was something I was so incredibly proud of with all the right motives, to see it twisted, it’s a real shame.”

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Sir Tom became a national celebrity aged 99 during the Covid pandemic when he began walking 100 lengths of his garden to raise money for the NHS charity with the aim of raising £1,000 by his 100th birthday. By the time he reached this milestone, his fundraising had exceeded £30m.

Captain Sir Tom Moore with a copy of his autobiography

Captain Sir Tom Moore with a copy of his autobiography (PA line)

Meanwhile, his single with Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in April 2020, selling almost 36,000 copies in the first 48 hours.

After Sir Tom died in February 2021, aged 100, the song was used at his funeral.

Ingram-Moore and her husband have now been disqualified from serving as charity representatives.

The family have said they dispute the report’s findings, saying the report has taken a “severe toll” on their health and “unfairly tarnished” their name.

The findings of the report included a misleading implication that donations from book sales would go to the foundation when the proceeds from a £1.4m bookshop. instead was paid to the family company Club Nook.