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Globally, the Narconon network has run into problems in several countries in the past. In 1988 in Madrid, Spain, 11 members of the Church of Scientology were arrested, according to the St. Petersburg Times, and a local judge decried how Narconon swindled its clients and lured them toward Scientology. In 2003, the state of Oklahoma in the United States narrowly voted down a resolution honouring the work of Narconon Arrowhead, reported the Tulsa World. Last year, the United Kingdom’s prison systems ombudsman recommended Narconon not to be allowed in jails due to its connection to Scientology, reported the Sunday Times.

Patry told The Chronicle last week he believes Narconon’s results speak for themselves. He did acknowledge he had never heard about any possible connection between Narconon and Scientology until questioned by the newspaper. While Patry and some other politicians have signed on to support Narconon, it seems they should have done more background research on this initiative. In the end, they may still have supported it, but at least they would have avoided any potential controversies.

“A few weeks after the center opened we received a letter from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution,” Eva-Maria Volland from Munich’s Education Department told SPIEGEL ONLINE. All members of the Kinderhäusl’s board were Scientologists, according to the letter, and the children were being raised according to the cult’s ideology.

Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution was set up after World War II to pursue any group which the government deemed a specific threat to its democratic system. Neo-Nazis as well as radical Muslim groups have been watched and shut down by the office.

A regional court in Germany recently ruled that Scientologists had enough “ambitions against the free, democratic basic order” for the agency to go on watching them.

Evidence against the Church of Scientology in this case included brochures called “The Way to Happiness,” part of a worldwide project called “Operation Planetary Calm,” which aims to spread Scientology’s principles around the world. A brochure was even sent to German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, whose office watches Scientology and any group it deems a threat to the Germany’s constitution, including neo-Nazi parties and anti-democratic Muslim organizations.

Other items of evidence included texts by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, the science-fiction author who died in 1986. Some of his writings, the government argued, inveigh against democracy. Other passages detail how and when ex-members and critics of Scientology should be harassed.

One institution unable to provide an independent opinion on the subject is the not-for-profit Cult Awareness Network. Described in scientology literature as “the serpent of hatred, intolerance, violence and death”, it used to give advice in America about a number of sects and organisations. It went bankrupt after much litigation. Its name, telephone number and contact details were then purchased by a scientologist.

Police officers across the country have been used by the Church of Scientology to promote its antidrugs campaign in schools.

Officers have been handing out booklets that praise the science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, the church’s founder, and describe both prescription and illegal drugs as “poison”.

Scientologists say they are so trusted by the police that they have been asked to act as adult representatives for young people arrested on drugs offences.

One of the booklets handed out by Metropolitan police on behalf of the church’s Say No to Drugs campaign said Hubbard was creator of “the safest, most effective - and only - detoxification procedure of its kind”.

In July, 1968, following a governmental review, the Minister of Health told Parliament that the organisation “alienates members of families from each other” and had “authoritarian principles and practices” that were a “potential menace to the personality and well being of those so deluded as to become its followers”.

The controversial Scientology sect was accused of trying to inflitrate British politics last night after it emerged that they paid thousands of pounds to both the Labour and Tory parties.

Members of Labour’s ruling executive committee, on which Tony Blair sits, approved the payment from a charity which is closely linked to the Church of Scientology, which boasts Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its members.

Labour allowed the charity, the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), to pay between £3,500 and £13,500 for a stall at the party’s annual conference in Manchester.

Tory bosses also sanctioned a stand at their annual gathering in Bournemouth.

But MPs expressed concern after it emerged that they were part of an extensive lobbying operation by Scientology members to promote its drug treatment programme, Narconon, and the criminal rehabilitation scheme Criminon.

Labour allowed ABLE to exhibit despite concerns about Scientology and its offshoots.

The director of the Prison Service has said that Narconon is not a “validated programme” and has advised against its use as a treatment.

Drugs charity Addaction also opposes the programme saying it is “not scientifically sound”.

Labour confirmed that the decision to accept money from the Scientologists to exhibit was taken by a committee of the NEC. NEC members include Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and party chairman Hazel Blears.

A Labour Party conference spokesman said the money received was a business transaction and did not constitute a donation.

Germany’s federal and state interior ministers have declared the Church of Scientology unconstitutional, clearing the way for a possible ban.

The ministers have asked Germany’s domestic intelligence agency to examine whether the Church’s legal status as an association could be challenged.