MP defends flight to Africa for peace talk

Feb 15 2009 by Coreena Ford and William Green, Sunday Sun

A NORTH MP has defended himself after it was revealed he jetted to Africa on a junket with a group formed by the leader of the Moonies.

Dave Anderson, MP for Blaydon, spent five days in Kenya at a conference organised by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), a religious group founded by the controversial Reverend Dr Sun Myung Moon.

Moon is leader of the Unification Church — better known in the 1970s as the Moonies — who has famously declared himself to be the Messiah and the Second Coming of Christ.

The controversial leader is also well-known for hosting mass weddings, such as one in 1997 with some 30,000 couples.

The Tyneside politician isn’t alone in jetting abroad for conferences held by the group.

Frank Cook, MP for Stockton on Teesside, last year journeyed to Japan and Korea to attend a Leadership for Peace conference.

The region’s MPs are believed to be the only two members of parliament to attend the meetings.

However, Labour MP Anderson last night declared he had no qualms about attending the conference, held in Nairobi between August 28 and September 1 last year, and said he was well aware the federation was connected with the controversial Reverend.

He said: “As far as I am concerned, I will work with people of goodwill no matter what their beliefs.

“I knew exactly where they were coming from. I am not stupid, I am not immature, but sometimes you have to deal with people that you don’t like.