Policy Exchange
Who are the faceless elites behind the UK’s most influential think tank?
The UK’s EU referendum resulted in the British people voting to extract themselves from those who have been called the “unelected, faceless elites of Europe” in order to “take control” of their own affairs and sovereignty. The campaign to leave or remain were fought on the wickets of the economy (remain) and immigration (leave). Expert witnesses in abundance were called to defend the economy and the remain campaign whereas the leave campaign was fought on the basis of what people felt rather than knew or perhaps, more accurately, what they were told.
Neither side of the debate conducted themselves with anything that might be described as collegial discourse for the benefit of the British people. Instead we were treated to a game played by the privately educated elites apparently for the benefit of the working people.
There were Etonians, Cameron and Johnson, there was Gove of Robert Gordon’s and Nigel Farage, described by his alma mater, Dulwich College, as a “racist and neo-fascist”. The first three apparently continuing a game that they’d started at Oxford and the Bullingdon Club. What a jolly jape it was and when it was over Cameron, Johnson and Farage resigned. Gove, who demonstrated the benefits of a classical education in wielding a knife, remains with only a tenuous grasp on his political career albiet with the support of his fragrant, gossip columnist of the Daily Mail, wife.
Far be it for me to suggest a link between the privately educated elite and the social, constitutional and economic chaos that the British now find themselves in. It could of course be a coincidence that the majority of the political and media classes in the UK were privately educated. Likewise it might also be coincidental that British history is littered with examples of how the ruling elite have manipulated the disenfranchised. Perhaps it really was the Sun, whose proprietor is the Australian-born American Rupert Murdoch, wot won it?
Whatever the reason for voting against the establishment to vote in the establishment uncut we are where we are and last week was certainly a good one for burying “other news”.
Amongst the other news last week was the release of an eagerly awaited 2016 report from, George Soros’ Open Society Foundation funded, Transparify on Think Tank transparency. The report is a study of 200 global think tanks and the level of transparency about who funds them and therefore, who they work for.
Think tanks are a body of experts providing advice and ideas on specific political or economic problems. Of course, we live in times where according to Michael Gove, the inaugural chairman of the UK think tank, Policy Exchange, “people have had enough of experts”. So this makes it somewhat troubling that Policy Exchange, a think tank that wields formidable influence on British government policy, falls right at the bottom of the Transparify report. In 2016 when much of our education and public sector policy including the NHS is essentially determined by our elected officials parroting from Policy Exchange materials they remain comfortable “taking money behind hidden doors from hidden hands”.
So let’s break that down for additional clarity. When, for example; the BBC, Times Educational Supplement (TES) or SchoolsWeek glibly quote Policy Exchange as “experts” they have absolutely no idea of who these “experts” work for. In some cases these “experts” have been so introduced in print or broadcast that many people have mistaken them for elected members of our government. Yet, no, they are in fact funded by a group of undisclosed donors who, in return for their substantial donations, influence the political decision making of the UK.
In a country that has just voted against the “faceless elites of European bureaucracy” isn’t it time that we knew exactly who these people at Policy Exchange are working for?
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An entertaining & thought provoking slayer of sacred cows, Graham Brown-Martin works globally with senior leadership teams to help organisations adapt in the face of rapid change & innovation. By challenging entrenched thinking he liberates teams to think in new ways to solve complex challenges. His book Learning {Re}imagined is published by Bloomsbury and he is represented for speaking engagements via Wendy Morris at the London Speakers Bureau.
