55 Tufton Street

55 Tufton Street is a Georgian era townhouse on Tufton Street, in Westminster, London, England, owned by businessman Richard Smith.[1] Since the 2010s the building has hosted lobby groups and think tanks related to Brexit and climate change.[2] A group of these think tanks, dubbed "The Nine Entities", use the building for biweekly meetings to coordinate policy and public messages.[3][4]

55 Tufton Street
General information
Address55 Tufton Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3QL
Town or cityLondon
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates51.4963°N 0.1284°W / 51.4963; -0.1284

The nine lobby groups – the TaxPayers’ Alliance, the office of Peter Whittle, the former deputy leader of UKIP, Civitas, the Adam Smith Institute, Leave Means Leave, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, Brexit Central, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Institute for Economic Affairs – were accused by Brexit opponent Shahmir Sanni of using the meetings to "agree on a single set of right-wing talking points" and "securing more exposure to the public".[5]

Lobbying organisations

Brexit Central

Brexit Central

Business for Britain
Main article: Business for Britain

Business for Britain is a eurosceptic campaign group which seeks renegotiation of the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The campaign was founded in April 2013, by five hundred business leaders, including Phones 4u co founder John Caudwell and former Marks & Spencer chairman Stuart Rose.[6] The group published non peer reviewed and misleading research on the voting record of the United Kingdom in the European Parliament in 2014, called Measuring Britain’s influence in the Council of Ministers.[7] In October 2015, the Business for Britain Board unanimously decided to support the Vote Leave Campaign.[8][9] (until 7 October 2015)[10]

Civitas
Main article: Civitas (think tank)

Civitas is a think tank that describes itself as "classical liberal" and "non-partisan". The Times and The Daily Telegraph have described it as a "right-of-centre think-tank".[11][12] Its director David G. Green writes occasionally in The Daily Telegraph and its deputy director Anastasia de Waal frequently contributes to The Guardian's "Comment is free" section.[13] The Times has described Civitas as an ally of former Education Secretary Michael Gove.[11] It is opposed to green regulations, to legislation designed to reduce climate change, and to greater reliance on renewable energy.[14][15]

European Foundation
Main article: European Foundation (think tank)

The European Foundation is a Eurosceptic think tank based in the United Kingdom. It is chaired by Bill Cash, a British Conservative MP. The organisation produces the European Journal.

Global Vision
Main article: Global Vision (UK)

Global Vision is a British eurosceptic campaign group.[16] It is an independent, not-for-profit group, with no explicit links with any political party.[17] The "Parliamentary Friends of Global Vision" cross-party group has 24 Members of Parliament, all of whom are Conservatives, two Members of the European Parliament, both of whom are Conservatives, and 17 Representative peers, of whom ten are Conservative, six are cross-benchers, and one is independent Labour.[18]

Global Warming Policy Foundation
Main article: Global Warming Policy Foundation

The Global Warming Policy Foundation is a lobby group in the United Kingdom whose stated aims are to challenge "extremely damaging and harmful policies" envisaged by governments to mitigate anthropogenic global warming.[19] The GWPF as well as some of its prominent members have been characterized as promoting climate change denial.[20][21] In 2014, when the Charity Commission ruled that the GWPF had breached rules on impartiality, a non-charitable organisation called the "Global Warming Policy Forum" was created as a wholly owned subsidiary, to do lobbying that a charity could not. The GWPF website carries an array of articles "sceptical" of scientific findings of anthropogenic global warming and its impacts.

Leave Means Leave
Main article: Leave Means Leave

Leave Means Leave was a pro-Brexit,[22] Eurosceptic political pressure group organisation that campaigned and lobbied[23] for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union following the 'Leave' result of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. The campaign was co-chaired by British property entrepreneur Richard Tice and business consultant John Longworth. The vice-chairman was Leader of the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage.

Migration Watch UK
Main article: Migration Watch UK

Migration Watch UK is a British think-tank[24][25][26][27] and campaign group[28][29][30][31][32] which argues for lower immigration into the United Kingdom.[33][34][35] Founded in 2001, the group believes that international migration places undue demand on limited resources and that the current level of immigration is not sustainable.[36][37]

New Culture Forum

New Culture Forum is a think tank whose mission is described as "challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in the media, academia, education, and British culture in its widest sense." Speakers at NCF events, including for its annual keynote Smith Lecture, have included Martin Amis, Dame Vivien Westwood, Jeremy Hunt MP, Michael Gove MP, Nigel Farage MEP, Justin Webb, Sir Anthony Seldon, Petroc Trelawny, Ed Vaizey MP, Melanie Philips, Brendan O'Neil and Owen Jones. Writers for the New Culture Forum have included Douglas Murray, Julie Bindel, Ed West, and Dennis Sewell.

Taxpayer's Alliance
Main article: TaxPayers' Alliance

The Taxpayer's Alliance is a right-wing pressure group in the United Kingdom formed in 2004 to campaign for a low tax society. The group had about 18,000 registered supporters as of 2008,[38] and claimed to have 55,000 by September 2010 although it has been suggested that a vast majority of these supporters who do not contribute financially or engage in campaigning were simply signed up to a mailing list. Major questions have been raised regarding the funding of the organisation with speculation that significant contributions have been received from overseas. The TaxPayers' Alliance was given the lowest possible grade for Think Tank financial transparency by Who Funds You, a British project that seeks to rate and promote transparency of funding sources of think tanks.[39] The TaxPayers' Alliance has also had its links to other Eurosceptic think tanks based at 55 Tufton Street questioned.[40]

Influence on government policy

In September 2020 the Extinction Rebellion group Writers Rebel demonstrated outside of the building to protest the influence that the lobby groups and think tanks have on government policy.[41][42][43]

“It’s sickening how much money is being spent on thinktanks and professional lobbyists to spread confusion, lies and doubt on the subject of man-made climate change and its horribly real threat,”

— Stephen Fry

References
  1. Bawden, Tom (10 February 2016). "The address where Eurosceptics and climate change sceptics rub shoulders". The Independent. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  2. "55 Tufton Street". DeSmog UK. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  3. "Revealed: how the UK's powerful right-wing think tanks and Conservative MPs work together". openDemocracy. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  4. "The address where Eurosceptics and climate change sceptics rub shoulders". The Independent. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  5. Farand, Chloe (23 June 2018). "Mapped: Whistleblower Accuses Nine Organisations of Colluding over Hard Brexit". DeSmog UK. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  6. Ben Marlow (8 November 2014). "Business leaders demand cross-party pledge on EU vote". The Telegraph.
  7. Joseph O'Leary (22 June 2016). "How often does the EU overrule British ministers?". fullfact.org. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  8. "Business for Britain's Support For Vote Leave". Business for Britain. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  9. "Business For Britain - Political Party in Westminster SW1P 3QL - 192.com". www.192.com. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  10. "BUSINESS FOR BRITAIN LIMITED – Filing history (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  11. "Gove allies say 'Sixties-mired' Ofsted should be scrapped". The Times. London. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  12. Philip Johnston (7 April 2014). "A close encounter with the property boom". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  13. "Anastasia de Waal". the Guardian.
  14. "Brexit Climate Deniers Launch Coordinated Attack Against Green Regulations Ahead of Election". DeSmog UK. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  15. "Jeremy Nicholson". DeSmog UK. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  16. "Global Vision home page". Retrieved 26 July 2007.
  17. ""Who we are" page on the Global Vision website". Archived from the original on 22 July 2007. Retrieved 26 July 2007.
  18. ""Parliamentary Friends" page on the Global Vision website". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 26 July 2007.
  19. "Ed Miliband clashes with Lord Lawson on global warming". BBC News. news.bbc.co.uk. 6 December 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  20. Ian Johnston, "Nigel Lawson's climate-change denial charity 'intimidated' environmental expert", The Independent, 11 May 2014
  21. Frederick F. Wherry; Juliet B. Schor, Consulting Editor (2015). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society. Sage Publications. p. 1020. ISBN 978-1-5063-4617-5.
  22. "Iain Duncan Smith backs report calling for 'drastic reduction' in immigration". Metro. 26 November 2017.
  23. "Ireland seeks momentum on border ahead of key Brexit meeting". Associated Press. 3 December 2017. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  24. Joël Reland (16 August 2019). "How many refugees does the UK take in?". Full Fact. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  25. "Reality Check: Could 250,000 refugees come to the UK from 2020?". BBC News. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  26. Edward Malnick (11 March 2018). "Migrants claim £4bn a year in benefits, new report claims". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  27. Patrick Wintour and Rowena Mason. "David Cameron 'Ukip desperation' over MigrationWatch UK founder's peerage". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  28. "Boris Johnson lifts £30k wage barrier on immigrants". The Times. 22 January 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  29. Charles Hymas, Home Affairs Editor (28 January 2020). "Ousted adviser dismissed Australian points-based immigration as 'soundbite'". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  30. "News Daily: Student visa rules change and Labour on Brexit". BBC News. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  31. "FactCheck: everything you need to know about EU immigration". Channel4.com. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  32. "Migration into UK could rise after Brexit - new report". independent.ie.
  33. "UK immigration falls to five-year low as influx of EU workers slows". 24 May 2019 – via uk.reuters.com.
  34. "Johnson's points-based immigration pledge dismissed as 'soundbite'". The Times. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  35. "Immigration to Britain hits five-year low ahead of Brexit". Al Jazeera. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  36. Richard Ford (23 August 2018). "Migration linked to 82% of growth in the population". The Times. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  37. "Migrant salary threshold fall 'would boost public sector'". BBC News. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  38. Brian Wheeler (3 March 2008). "The campaign group: Taxpayers' Alliance". BBC Online. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  39. "RANKED: The UK's think tanks, from most to least transparent".
  40. "Revealed: How the UK's powerful right-wing think tanks and Conservative MPS work together".
  41. Murray, Jessica (2 September 2020). "Literary figures join Extinction Rebellion campaign against thinktanks". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  42. Monbiot, George (1 September 2020). "No 10 and the secretly funded lobby groups intent on undermining democracy | George Monbiot". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  43. "George Monbiot | 55 Tufton Street | Writers Rebel | Extinction Rebellion UK". YouTube.
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