The Atlantic Bridge
Encyclopedia
The Atlantic Bridge Research and Education Scheme was an educational charity founded in 1997 with Margaret Thatcher as its President to promote Atlanticism
Atlanticism
Atlanticism is a philosophy of cooperation among Western European and North American nations regarding political, economic, and defense issues, with the purpose to maintain the security of the participating countries, and to protect the values that unite them: "democracy, individual liberty and...

, a philosophy of cooperation between the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 regarding political, economic, and defense issues. It was set up by Liam Fox
Liam Fox
Liam Fox MP is a British Conservative politician, Member of Parliament for North Somerset, and former Secretary of State for Defence....

, former Secretary of State for Defence
Secretary of State for Defence
The Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position...

 of the United Kingdom. Cabinet ministers, Michael Gove
Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove, MP is a British politician, who currently serves as the Secretary of State for Education and as the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the Surrey Heath constituency. He is also a published author and former journalist.Born in Edinburgh, Gove was raised in Aberdeen...

, George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...

 and William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...

 and Chris Grayling
have previously sat on its advisory panel, as have American senators, Jon Kyl
Jon Kyl
Jon Llewellyn Kyl is the junior U.S. Senator from Arizona and the Senate Minority Whip, the second-highest position in the Republican Senate leadership. In 2010 he was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for his persuasive role in the Senate.The son...

, Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Olin Graham is the senior U.S. Senator from South Carolina and a member of the Republican Party. Previously he served as the U.S. Representative for .-Early life, education and career:...

 and Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election. Currently an independent, he remains closely affiliated with the party.Born in Stamford, Connecticut,...

. The organistion's principal staff included Catherine Bray (US Executive Director), Adam Werritty
Adam Werritty
Adam Werritty is a Scottish businessman. Werritty is a close friend of the former UK Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox: he resided for a period in 2002 and 2003 at Fox's London apartment and was best man at his wedding in 2005. The two were also business associates who once held joint...

 (UK Executive Director) and Kara Watt (Operations Director).

It was dissolved in September 2011, following a critical report from the Charity Commission the previous year.

Activities

In discussion with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States...

, Fox claimed that the think tank was intended to "bring people together who have common interests and recognize that...[they] will all be called upon to defend those... interests". Its work largely consisted of uniting British and American Conservatives and foreign policy hawks
War Hawk
War Hawk is a term originally used to describe members of the Twelfth Congress of the United States who advocated waging war against the British in the War of 1812...

. This included meetings with John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...

 and Karl Rove
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...

 and the presentation of awards to Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....

 and Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...

'

In 2003, when Fox was Shadow Secretary for Health, he also chaired a conference on "scientific research and medical provision" Speakers included Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute
Galen Institute
The Galen Institute is a non-profit public policy research organization based in Alexandria, Virginia. Founded in 1995 by Grace-Marie Turner, the Galen Institute's stated mission is "advancing free-market ideas in health policy, promoting a more informed public debate over ideas that support...

, Timothy Morris of GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...

 and Peter Farrow of Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...

.

Funding and partnerships

The Atlantic Bridge was briefly a partnership program of the American Legislative Exchange Council
American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Legislative Exchange Council is a politically conservative 501 non-profit Policy Organization, consisting of both state legislators and members of the private sector. ALEC's mission statement describes the organization's purpose as the advancement of free-market principles, limited...

 (ALEC), a conservative organisation with extensive links to corporate and industrial groups. It has hosted events with the Center for Security Policy
Center for Security Policy
The Center for Security Policy is a Washington, D.C. think tank that focuses on national security issues. The Center was founded in 1988 by Frank Gaffney, Jr....

, the Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...

 and representatives from Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...

.

Patrons of the Atlantic Bridge have included Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...

,
UK Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 donor Michael Hintze
Michael Hintze
Michael Hintze is an Australian/British businessman, philanthropist and political patron, based in the United Kingdom. According to the latest Forbes Rich List, he is the world’s 880th richest person, worth $1.2 billion.-Early life:...

 and Michael Lewis of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre
Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre
The Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre is a United Kingdom based organisation which claims to act to create a more supportive environment for Israel in the UK...

.

Charity Commission report

The Atlantic Bridge gained charitable status in 2003 as an "education and research scheme". In September 2009 the Charity Commission started a regulatory compliance case after receiving a complaint about the charity. A 2010 report by the Charity Commission ruled that it was "not evident that [it] had advanced education" and "may lead members of the public to call into question its independence from party politics". It was ordered to enact a 12-month review to bring it into line with its charitable objectives.

On 30 September 2011, The Atlantic Bridge was dissolved by its trustees.

Controversy

In October 2011, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

newspaper published details of an alleged improper relationship and interactions between Adam Werritty and Liam Fox, culminating in Liam Fox's resignation on the 14th of October and a continuing official investigation. The controversy surrounds Werritty attending official defence meetings with Fox (notably in Pakistan) despite not being employed in any official capacity by the British government, Werritty's running of Pargav Ltd, and his ties with powerful Tory figures, supporters, and lobbyists through The Atlantic Bridge. Considering the rejected charitable status of The Atlantic Bridge, the question of Fox's independence and the distinction between the government, think-tanks, charities, and private business and corporate interests has been raised.

The O'Donnell report investigated this and implicated a company named IRG Ltd, "But the report, which named the six companies and individuals that funded Werritty's Pargav "slush fund", has raised more unanswered questions. Among the Pargav donors, including the mining tycoon Mick Davis, private investigations firm G3 and billionaire property mogul Poju Zabludowicz, is a company referred to as simply "IRG Ltd". More than 30 companies and organisations use the same initials, including an Iraq-focused charity, an executive recruitment agency linked to the former Tory minister Virginia Bottomley and a pizza restaurant in Basildon."http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/20/downing-street-pressure-donors-liam-fox?newsfeed=true

External links

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