Ditchley

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Group.png Ditchley  
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SubpageDitchley/Canada
Ditchley/Governors
Ditchley/UK
Ditchley/US
Another set of private meetings...

The Ditchley Foundation is an Anglo-Canadian-American network similar to the Bilderberg Group, and has a significant overlap in membership. One will also find overlap with the Integrity Initiative, like Ngaire Woods.

This is about the UK branch. The US branch is The American Ditchley Foundation. The Canadian branch is The Canadian Ditchley Foundation.


The Foundation

It is based at the mansion Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire, aims to promote international understanding and relations, especially Anglo-American relations, through a programme of around twelve annual conferences on matters of international interest. The foundation was established in 1958 by Sir David Wills, descendant of the tobacco importing family, W. D. & H. O. Wills of Bristol.

At each conference, around forty international invitees are drawn from senior levels of politics, business, the armed forces, media, and academia. The current director is James Arroyo OBE, previously director for data at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, charged with adapting the organisation to the digital age.

The meetings

Discussion at each two-day conference begins with all members present, before participants divide into three sub-groups, each having its own chairman and rapporteur to summarise proceedings. Proceedings end with one more conference-wide session. Discussions are private and non-attributable, under the Chatham House Rule, but a full account is produced by the Director, and posted on the Foundations website. (This setup is similar to the Bilderberg meetings)

A permanent secretariat works at Ditchley, organising about 12 conference weekends per year. It is run, usually, by a retired ambassador. Some 40 people come to each weekend: one-third from America, one-third from Britain and one-third from the rest of the world. They are chosen for being bright, informed or influential on the matter in hand. [1]

Ditchley House

The 250 year-old palatial country house is equipped with modem conference rooms, interpretation circuits and closed-circuit televisions. It is elegantly decorated with valuable antiques and priceless paintings.

Ditchley Park has been a center of intrigue since it was purchased in 1933 by Ronald Tree, who was Minister of Information Duff Cooper's advisor on American affairs. Tree made the estate available to Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the early years of World War II when it was feared that Chequers could be a target for German bombers.

During these years Ditchley became a meeting place and retreat for British and American leaders. Roosevelt emissary Harry Hopkins was Churchill's guest at Ditchley in January 1941 for discussion on troop morale; details of the Lend-Lease program were worked out amid the serene surroundings of Ditchley.[2]

The Council of Management (2019)

Honorary Life President: Lady Wills, JP

Chairman: The Rt Hon Lord Hill of Oareford CBE

Vice Chairman: Mr Philip Stephens

Governors (2019)

The Lord Charles Aldington Chairman, Machfast Group Ltd

James Arroyo OBE Director

The Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, (Karan Bilimoria) CBE, DL Chairman, Cobra Beer Partnership Ltd

Sir Rodric Braithwaite, GCMG Formerly British Ambassador to Russia

The Lord Bridges of Headley, (James Bridges), MBE Senior Adviser to the Group Executive Chairman, Banco Santander

Sir Andrew Cahn KCMG Chair, WWF (UK); Non-Executive Director of Huawei Technologies (UK) plc.

The Lord Chadlington of Dean Chief Executive, Huntsworth plc

Her Excellency Mrs Janice Charette Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Mr Robert Conway Senior Director, Goldman Sachs

Mr Bill Emmott Chair, International Institute for Strategic Studies and of the Japan Society of the U.K.

Mr Steven Erlanger Chief Diplomatic Correspondent in Europe, New York Times.

Dr Jonathan Eyal International Studies Director, Royal United Services Institute

Mr Nicholas Ferguson CBE Chairman, Savills plc

Mr Francis Finlay, CMG, OBE Chairman Emeritus, EastWest Institute.

Ms Stephanie Flanders Senior Executive Editor for Economics and Head of Bloomberg Economics, Bloomberg LP

Mrs Marjorie Neasham Glasgow BEM CEO, Ridge Clean Energy. President, The Glasgow Foundation.

Dr Nik Gowing International Broadcaster; Visiting Professor, Kings College, London. Founder and Director Thinking the Unthinkable

Mr Charles Grant, CMG Director, Centre for European Reform

Sir Bernard Gray Executive Chairman, New Scientist magazine

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, GCMG Chairman, Gatehouse Advisory Partners Ltd. Former diplomat and Director of The Ditchley Foundation.

Sir Christopher Greenwood, GBE, CMG, QC Member, Iran-US Claims Tribunal

The Rt Hon. Dominic Grieve QC MP Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield; Formerly Attorney General

The Lord Hannay of Chiswick,(David Hannay) GCMG, CH Formerly Ambassador and UK Permanent Representative to the EU and UN

Dr Rita E. Hauser President, The Hauser Foundation.

Professor The Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield (Peter Hennessy) FBA Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary, University of London

The Rt Hon Lord Hill of Oareford (Jonathan Hill)CBE Chairman

Sir John Holmes, GCVO, KBE, CMG Chairman, The Electoral Commission. Formerly Director, The Ditchley Foundation.

Mr Jo Johnson MP Member of Parliament (Conservative) for Orpington

Ms Suzanne Ferlic Johnson Vice President, Corporate and External Affairs, LLoyd's Register Group Limited

Ms Roula Khalaf Deputy Editor, Financial Times

Mr Andrew Knight Chairman, Times Newspaper Holdings Ltd

Mr Axel Krause Paris-based author and Journalist, and formerly Ditchley Representative in France

Ms Rachel Lomax Deputy Chair, British Council

Mr Pierre Lortie CM, FCAE Senior Business Advisor, Dentons Canada LLP

The Honourable Kevin G Lynch PC, OC Vice-Chairman, BMO Financial Group

Ms Bronwen Maddox Director, The Institute for Government

Dr Pippa Malmgren Founder, DRPM Group

The Lord Mandelson, (Peter Mandelson) PC Chairman, Global Counsel. Formerly Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and European Trade Commissioner

Sir David Manning, GCMG, KCVO Formerly British Ambassador to the United States of America

The Rt Hon. Lord Maude of Horsham (Francis Maude) Formerly Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The Rt Hon. Michael Moore Senior Adviser, PWC. Formerly Secretary of State for Scotland.

Mr Rajay Naik Chief Commercial Officer, Study Group. Formerly Director, The Open University.

The Rt Hon. Baroness Neville-Jones of Hutton Roof (Lilian Neville-Jones DCMG Formerly Minister of State for Security

Mr Paul Newman Former Chairman, ICAP Energy; Director, JC Rathbone Associates Ltd.

Mrs Elizabeth Padmore Emeritus Trustee, Women for Women International - UK

Mr Trevor Phillips OBE Director, Webber Phillips Limited; Chair, Green Park Interim and Executive Search; Chair, Index on Censorship.

Ms Emma Reynolds MP Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton North East

General The Lord Richards of Herstmonceux (David Richards)GCB, CBE, DSO, DL Chairman, Equilibrium Global Ltd. Formerly Chief of the Defence Staff.

The Rt Hon. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, (George Robertson) KT, GCMG, Hon FRSE, PC Special Adviser to BP plc. Formerly Secretary General, NATO, and Secretary of State for Defence.

Mr Roland Rudd Chairman, Finsbury

Marquess of Salisbury KG KCVO PC DL Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire

Mr Jeremy Shapiro Director of Research, European Council on Foreign Relations

Sir Nigel Sheinwald, GCMG Visiting Professor, King's College, London; Director, Royal Dutch Shell

Sir Martin Smith Founder of Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Oxford University

Dr Constanze Stelzenmüller Robert Bosch Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

Mr Philip Stephens Director of the Editorial Board and Chief Political Commentator, Financial Times

The Rt Hon. Rory Stewart, OBE, MP Formerly Secretary of State for International Development

Ms Jo Swinson CBE MP Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Mr Michael Tang Chairman, Tang Industries

Sir Paul Tucker Chair, Systemic Risk Council; Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School

Dr Diana Walford, CBE, MD, BSc MSc FRCP, FRCPath, FFPH Chair, Board of Trustees, Regent’s University London

Mr John Weston, CBE, MEng, FRAEng, FRAes Chairman: 7 Technologies Group and Brittpac

Dr Catherine Wills Trustee

Professor Sir Robert Worcester, KBE, DL Chairman, Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Commemoration Committee. Founder, MORI.

Honorary Governors

The Rt Hon. Baroness Virginia Bottomley, PC, DL Formerly Secretary of State for Health and for National Heritage

The Rt Hon David Cameron Formerly Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010-2016). Honorary Governor, The Ditchley Foundation.

Mr Robert Cooper, KCMG, MVO Formerly Counsellor, EEAS, Council of the European Union.

Sir Simon Fraser, GCMG Managing Partner, Flint Global Ltd. Formerly Permanent Under Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service.

The Rt Hon. Sir Lawrence Freedman, KCMG, CBE, FBA, FKC Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London.

Professor Timothy Garton Ash, CMG Professor of European Studies, University of Oxford and Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow, St Antony's College, Oxford.

Professor Sir Malcolm Grant, CBE, MA, LLD Chancellor, University of York. Former Chairman, NHS England.

The Rt Hon Lord Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE Formerly Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Mr Will Hutton Principal, Hertford College.

Lady Judge, CBE Chairman, Astana Financial Services Authority. Chairman, Cifas. Chairman, SNOMED International.

The Honorable Roy MacLaren, PC Formerly Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Minister of Trade.

The Rt Hon Sir John Major, KG, CH Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.

The Rt Hon David Miliband President and CEO, International Rescue Committee. Formerly Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Mr Glen Moreno Director, Fidelity International Limited.

Mr Edward Mortimer, CMG Formerly Chief Speechwriter and Director of Communications to the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Sir Richard Mottram, GCB Visiting Professor, LSE; formerly Permanent Secretary, UK Civil Service.

Judge Hisashi Owada Formerly President and Judge at the International Court of Justice.

The Rt Hon Lord Patten (Chris Patten) of Barnes, CH Chancellor of Oxford University. Formerly Member of the European Commission and Governor of Hong Kong.

The Rt Hon. Baroness Prashar of Runnymede, CBE Formerly Chair of the Judicial Appointment Commission First Civil Service Commissioner.

Lord Rees of Ludlow, OM, FRS, Hon. FBA Astronomer Royal. Formerly Master, Trinity College, Cambridge University.

The Lord Ricketts, GCMG GCVO Former Permanent Secretary in the Foreign Office, National Security Adviser and Ambassador to France

The Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind, KCMG, QC Formerly Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Sir John Sawers, GCMG Executive Chairman, Newbridge Advisory. Formerly Chief of MI6 (2009-14).

The Rt Hon Jack Straw Formerly Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary and Lord Chancellor

Sir Kevin Tebbit, KCB, CMG Former diplomat and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence.

Sir Crispin Tickell, GCMG, KCVO Formerly United Kingdom Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Sir John Vereker, KCB, KStJ Independent Director, AXA-XL London Companies.

Mr Simon Webb, FICE Executive Director, The Nichols Group.

The Rt Hon. the Lord Willetts, FRS Executive Chair, Resolution Foundation; Visiting Professor, King's College, London. Formerly Minister for Universities and Science.

The Rt Hon Baroness Williams of Crosby Formerly UK Secretary of State for Education and Science. Emeritus Board Member, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Washington DC.

Professor Ngaire Woods Dean, The Blavatnik School of Government.

People

 

Related Quotation

PageQuoteAuthor
Cyrus VanceDitchley conferences seed ideas and deepen understanding. The consequences have often been significant and have engendered contacts, friendships and working relationships which have influenced events and policies in many fields.”Cyrus Vance


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References

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  2. "The Governors". Ditchley Foundation. Archived from the original on 26 September 2006.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").