The British-American Project (BAP) is an organisation intended to strengthen links between the United Kingdom and the United States.[1] BAP operates on a not-for-profit basis, funded through its membership and support from corporate partners. It was originally named the British-American Project for the Successor Generation.[1][2]

Goals

Established in 1985, BAP was created to help maintain and enrich the long-standing relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States. The Project was the brainchild of Nick Butler, an economist at BP, who at that time was also a prospective Labour Party parliamentary candidate.[1] Along with others in both countries who viewed the special relationship favorably, he had become concerned about a growing tide of anti-American sentiment among his generation in the UK. Butler's response was to propose a series of conferences, developing relationships between the participants and broadening understanding.[1]

A US BAP organiser describes the BAP network as committed to "grooming leaders" while promoting "the leading global role that [the US and Britain] continue to play".[3]

Organisation

The British-American Project is affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). BAP is a non-profit, funded by its members and donations from corporate partners.[4][dubious – discuss]

Nick Cohen, writing in The Observer in 1999, criticised the scheme on the grounds that it encouraged the adoption in Europe of policy from the United States.[4][dubious – discuss][better source needed]

Andy Beckett, writing in The Guardian in 2004, said of the organisation "You won't have heard of the British-American Project, but its members include some of the most powerful men and women in the UK".[1] He writes that in the work of the organisation "a process of political education can be discerned of which J Howard Pew would have approved", and that "American notions such as less regulated capitalism, a smaller 'enabling state' and a world kept safe by the Pentagon came to be regarded as sensible, inevitable".[1] He notes that people with military experience are important in BAP.[1]

Notable current and former members

Fellows

Politicians

Journalists

Arts and media

Other

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Beckett, Andy (6 November 2004). "Friends in high places". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  2. ^ "History of the Project". British-American Project. Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Pilger, John (13 December 2007). "Tainted hands across the water". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 2013-05-08. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  4. ^ a b Nick Cohen - Without Prejudice: "Cry freedom... and order a Big Mac - BAP conference", The Observer, 31 October 1999, hosted at Bilderberg website, accessed 17 June 2013.
  5. ^ a b Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (17 March 2008). "This unhealthy strain of left-wing McCarthyism". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
  6. ^ "British American Project - SourceWatch". www.sourcewatch.org.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h "Transatlantic Elite - BAP - British American Project for the successor generation - Peter Mandelson". www.bilderberg.org.
  8. ^ Daniel Drezner (November 12, 2003). "I'm off to join another secret cabal".
  9. ^ "Welcome to the British-American Project". archive.is. 16 March 2015. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015.
  10. ^ Rowan Pelling (13 Nov 2007). "Subversive politics and honey traps never pall". The Telegraph.
  11. ^ Joel Stein (November 30, 2007). "Changing the world a drink at a time". Los Angeles Times.
  12. ^ Elworthy, Scilla (30 April 2007). "Obituary: Janet Bloomfield". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  13. ^ "The Governors". Ditchley Foundation. Archived from the original on 26 September 2006.
  14. ^ Royal United Services Institute Fellows and Associates Archived March 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Rayner, Gordon (2023-09-01). "British-American Project at war after Hardeep Singh Kohli appointment". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2023-10-22.

External links

Categories