Captain Tom book workers thought ‘significant donation’ from profits would go to veteran’s foundation

“Everyone who worked” on Captain Sir Tom Moore’s books were told a “significant donation” would be made from the profits to the fundraiser’s foundation, it’s been claimed.

Captain Tom wrote three books - Captain Tom’s Life Lessons, One Hundred Steps and his autobiography Tomorrow Will Be a Good Day - before he died in 2021.

The Second World War veteran had written in the prologue to his memoir that the publication had “given the chance to raise even more money for the charitable foundation now established in my name”.

The Captain Tom Foundation was set up in the month after the then 100-year-old had completed a fundraising walking in his garden that raised £39m for the NHS in 2020.

But in an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV, Captain Tom’s daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, admitted to keeping £800k from her father’s three books.

The money, she said, had gone to Club Nook - a family-owned company separate to the foundation - at the request of Captain Tom.

“He [Captain Tom] had an agent and they worked on that deal, and his wishes were that that money would sit in Club Nook,” she said in the interview.

Last week, the Charity Commission, which is investigating the Captain Tom Foundation, disqualified Ms Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin from being charity trustees for 10 and eight years respectively.

The watchdog said it had found “misconduct/and or mismanagement” in its probe, which is yet to be published and not clear if it focuses on Captain Tom’s books.

In a statement, the family said they “fundamentally disagree” with the watchdog’s decision, and complained that the probe had turned into a “relentless pursuit”.

But a report has now emerged claiming that those involved in discussions around the publication and release of the books believed some of the profits were to go to the foundation.

A source to The Times said: “Everyone that worked on the books … was very much told that a significant donation would be made by the family into the foundation,” they said.

“I don’t know if I thought it would be all, or a lot, but I thought there would be a significant donation.”

The outlet further reports that the source said that the books were not published with the aim of solely raising money for the charity.

The three books were published by Penguin Random House, with The Sun reporting that a book deal was first struck in May 2020 - the same month the foundation was launched.

Captain Tom’s autobiography Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day was published in September 2020.

His prologue read: “Astonishingly at my age, with the offer to write this memoir I have also been given the chance to raise even more money for the charitable foundation now established in my name.”

The picture book One Hundred Steps: The Story of Captain Sir Tom Moore was published in October 2020, and Captain Tom’s Life Lessons was released in 2021.

There is no suggestion that the Ingram-Moore family acted illegally by keeping money from book sales.

A fourth book called One Hundred Reasons to Hope did see £1 donations made to the foundation for all hardback print sales as declared on a sticker on its front.

In 2022, the foundation confirmed to The Independent that it had received donations from Penguin from the “books badged as providing a £1 charitable donation for each sale.”

The foundation, set up to continue the veteran’s fundraising legacy, is subject to the ongoing investigation by the Charity Commission over its management and independence from the family.

Ms Ingram-Moore became a trustee of the charity in February 2021, before stepping down the following month to become its interim CEO.

In July 2023, the foundation stopped accepting donations - and it looks set to be closed down following the watchdog’s investigation, according to the family barrister Scott Stemp.

The Independent has contacted Penguin Random House and Hannah Ingram Moore for comment.