War veteran Antony Kelly, who was a coxswain on the RNLI’s Skegness lifeboat, last night claimed that the charity is in a ‘downward spiral’

A lifeboat skipper has quit the Royal National Lifeboat Institution because it has become gripped by political correctness and is ‘misleading’ the public.

War veteran Antony Kelly, who was a coxswain on the RNLI’s Skegness lifeboat, last night claimed that the charity is in a ‘downward spiral’.

The pub and arcade business manager, 51, who had been a member of the Skegness crew for 14 years until quitting last month, said: ‘I have chosen to leave the institution as this culture needs exposing. If I were to do it from within, I would be sacked immediately for being disloyal.’

Last week The Mail on Sunday reported how the RNLI is spending millions on projects abroad, including buying burkinis for Muslim women in Africa.

Now we can reveal that the charity is slashing more than 100 jobs in the UK despite sitting on a cash pile of £126 million – and is facing claims of ‘hushing up’ the loss of one of its lifeboats following a fire on the vessel.

The disclosures follow clashes between the RNLI leadership and lifeboat crews, including the sacking in 2017 of a coxswain at a station in Arbroath, Scotland, after he failed to prevent a prank in which a crewman bared his buttocks.

Two crewmen from Whitby, North Yorkshire, were also dismissed last summer after tea mugs were found to be decorated with ‘inappropriate material of a sexual nature’.

Mr Kelly, who served as a reservist with the Royal Anglian Regiment in Iraq between 2003 and 2004, claimed there is ‘way too much’ political correctness in the RNLI.

‘You have to be so careful about what you say. You can’t make jokes any longer. If you say anything to anyone that they don’t like, they can get rid of you.’

While he supports overseas programmes, he fears those who donate to the charity assume their money is spent on UK lifeboats.

‘People are not being told the full story. Whether it’s misleading by omission, it’s misleading,’ he said.

‘I support training people overseas. I also think most people will not mind a small amount.

‘What I don’t like is the way they use lifeboats to fund other things. They use us as a shopfront to get money in. Once it’s in that bucket, they can do what they want with it.’

Last week The Mail on Sunday reported how the RNLI is spending millions on projects abroad, including buying burkinis for Muslim women in Africa

The RNLI last night said it ‘sets high standards and expects all its volunteers and staff to set an example, not just in terms of maritime expertise but also in their behaviour and respect for others’.

It added: ‘Our international work is reported in our annual reports, on our website and in the media.’

Mr Kelly, who once rescued two boys, aged four and five, after their dinghy drifted a mile and a half out to sea, said his disillusionment stemmed from the handling of a probe into a fire on an inshore lifeboat in May 2016.

Three colleagues were searching for a person reported to be in the sea off Skegness. When one of the crew tried to fire a flare, it struck a colleague and fell into the boat, setting it on fire. The crew escaped but the vessel was lost.

The crew member who fired the flare insisted he had done so correctly but an investigation found the flare had been held upside down.

Mr Kelly claimed the RNLI ‘hushed up’ the incident and volunteers were ordered not to discuss it. However, the RNLI said it did not blame the crew for the incident and took no action against them.

Meanwhile, latest accounts show the charity has amassed £125.8 million in reserves, which are ‘freely available for general use’.

The RNLI said the sum was within Charity Commission recommendations and that last year it had dipped into its reserves to cover a £6.3 million operating loss.