Thomas Cook has brought in veteran strategist Belinda Phipps to help establish its charity for safer tourism.

The tour operator agreed to put £1 million towards the Safer Tourism Foundation in the wake of the fallout from the inquest into the deaths Christi and Bobby Shepherd.

The pair died in 2006 on a Thomas Cook holiday but the company refused to take responsibility for the incident until it was effectively forced to.

The new charity is currently in the process of being set up and Phipps, who is currently chair of gender equality charity The Fawcett Society, will work two days a week as a consultant, The Guardian reported.

Linda McAvan, the MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, has joined as a trustee.

Phipps said: “Thomas Cook does not know anything about setting up charities. We have a draft strategy in place that has been discussed with the trustees and we’re formalising that. We will probably commission some research to look at the size of the issue we are tackling.”