British-American Project

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]

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]

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

Politicians

Journalists

Arts and media

Other

References
  1. Beckett, Andy (6 November 2004). "Friends in high places". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  2. "History of the Project". British-American Project. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  3. Pilger, John (13 December 2007). "Tainted hands across the water". New Statesman. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  4. 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. 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. "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.
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