British-American Project

Template:Short description Template:Use British English The British-American Project (BAP) is an organisation intended to strengthen links between the United Kingdom and the United States.<ref name="Beckett_2004">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="Beckett_2004"/><ref name=bap-history>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Beckett_2004"/> 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.<ref name="Beckett_2004"/>

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".<ref name="R000665">Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name="BAP">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.</ref>{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }}

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.<ref name="BAP"/>{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }}Template:Better

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".<ref name="Beckett_2004"/> 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".<ref name="Beckett_2004"/> He notes that people with military experience are important in BAP.<ref name="Beckett_2004"/>

Notable current and former members

Fellows

Politicians

• Template:Flagicon Douglas Alexander, former Labour MP<ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon Rushanara Ali, Labour MP<ref name=brown>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Stephen Dorrell, former Conservative MP and Liberal Democrat<ref name="Beckett_2004"/>
• Template:Flagicon Steve Hilton, political commentator and former political adviser<ref name="Beckett_2004"/>
• Template:Flagicon David Miliband, former Labour MP<ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon Peter Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, former Labour MP, life peer<ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon Mo Mowlam, former Labour MP<ref name="Beckett_2004"/>
• Template:Flagicon Geoff Mulgan, academic and former Director of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit<ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon Jonathan Powell (Tony Blair's chief of staff)<ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, former Labour MP<ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon Patricia Scotland, diplomat, barrister and Labour life peer<ref name="Beckett_2004"/><ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon Alan Sked, founder of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP)<ref name="Beckett_2004"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Template:Flagicon Elizabeth Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, trade unionist and Labour life peer<ref name="Beckett_2004"/><ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon Matthew Taylor (political strategist), former head of the Number 10 Policy Unit, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation<ref name="Beckett_2004"/><ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon David Willetts, former Conservative MP, life peer<ref name="Beckett_2004"/>
• Template:Flagicon Kate Forbes, Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Scottish National Party MSP
• Template:Flagicon Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour Party Leader
• Template:Flagicon Diana Villiers Negroponte, trade lawyer and academic<ref name='R000665'/>

Journalists

• Template:Flagicon Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The Independent, The London Evening Standard<ref name="Beckett_2004"/><ref name='R000665'/><ref name=brown/>
• Template:Flagicon George Brock, The Times<ref name="tom" />
• Template:Flagicon Diane Coyle, The Independent<ref name="tom" />
• Template:Flagicon Evan Davis, BBC<ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon Daniel Drezner, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, Slate, Tech Central Station, among others<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Template:Flagicon Daniel Franklin, The Economist<ref name="tom" />
• Template:Flagicon Jane Hill, BBC<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Template:Flagicon Isabel Hilton, The Independent, The Guardian, BBC<ref name="tom" />
• Template:Flagicon Frederick Kempe, The Wall Street Journal<ref name="tom" />
• Template:Flagicon Charles Moore, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator<ref name="Beckett_2004"/>
• Template:Flagicon James Naughtie, BBC<ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon Jeremy Paxman, BBC<ref name='R000665'/>
• Template:Flagicon Rowan Pelling, The Daily Telegraph<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Trevor Phillips, BBC<ref name="tom">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }}

• Template:Flagicon Caroline St John-Brooks, The Times Educational Supplement, The Sunday Times<ref name="tom" />
• Template:Flagicon Joel Stein, LA Times<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Arts and media

• Template:Flagicon Margaret Hill, BBC current affairs producer<ref name="tom" />
• Template:Flagicon Benjamin Zephaniah, poet<ref name="Beckett_2004"/>

Other

• Template:Flagicon Janet Bloomfield, peace and disarmament campaigner<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Shami Chakrabarti, Former director, Liberty<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }}

• Template:Flagicon Caroline, Lady Dalmeny, former defence policy analyst<ref>Royal United Services Institute Fellows and Associates Template:Webarchive</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Julia Hobsbawm, writer and public speaker<ref name="Beckett_2004"/>
• Template:Flagicon Hardeep Singh Kohli British presenter and comedian<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• British-American Project (official website)
• Transatlantic Elite - British American Project for the successor generation collection of articles from various publications{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B=

Template:Fix }}