contribution by Stephen Newton

As already reported on Liberal Conspiracy, Tuesday night is destined to see Dr Henry Kissinger deliver the Margaret Thatcher Lecture to the Atlantic Bridge and to collect the oxymoronic Margaret Thatcher Medal of Freedom, which the charity claims was endowed to it by Baroness Thatcher herself.

With ordinary tickets priced at £400 and VIP tickets with ‘priority seating’ going for £750, the night promises to raise a significant amount of money for the think tank.

Atlantic Bridge briefly came to prominence in the summer when its American members were accused of launching scathing attacks on the NHS. And with an advisory board that includes shadow chancellor George Osborne, former leader and shadow foreign secretary William Hague, shadow home secretary Chris Grayling and shadow schools secretary Michael Gove it looks like the stars will be out for Kissinger.

Established in 1997 by shadow defence secretary Liam Fox and dedicated to ‘the simple aim of strengthening the special relationship exemplified by the Reagan-Thatcher partnership of the 1980s,’ the Atlantic Bridge helps Tories bond with their US allies.

Typical events include supporting the US launch of one of William Hague’s books or dinner in LA with Fox News film reviewer James Hirsen.

The Reagan-Thatcher partnership was a particularly dark time.

The pair famously sponsored the Taliban in Afghanistan; Saddam Hussein in Iraq as he embarked on genocide; Pinochet in Chile as he made thousands of people disappear; it defended the apartheid regime in South Africa (the only evil for which current Tory leader David Cameron has apologised).

Britain’s aid budget was used not to boost development, but to subsidise the arms trade and businesses who donated to the Conservative Party.

A charity?
Nevertheless, generous observers may dismiss the Atlantic Bridge as a harmless relic from a bygone age.

But in 2003, the Atlantic Bridge registered as a charity, claiming to be a non-partisan education and research scheme or think tank. UK charities are forbidden from playing a role in party politics and last year the Charity Commission investigated the Smith Institute following allegations it had become too close to Labour.

The Commission asked if the charity’s work was of educational value or merit; balanced and not seeking to promote a particular point of view; and made sufficient work available to the public.

The Atlantic Bridge appears to fail on these requirements. It is hard to imagine any non-Conservatives signing on for a Reagan-Thatcher revival, all of its trustees are prominent Conservatives, it has published no research, and lectures like those delivered by Kissinger could hardly be described as publicly accessible.

When it registered as a charity, the Atlantic Bridge supplied a quite different set of objectives to the Charity Commission to those on its website. References to the Reagan-Thatcher partnership disappeared and it pledged to commit itself to public education and to research into relationship between Europe and America.

In August, I complained to the Charity Commission that the Atlantic Bridge was not a charity. An investigation was opened shortly after. The commission is notoriously slow, typically taking eighteen months to complete an investigation such as this. It’s usual response it to work with the charity involved to bring it into compliance with the law. This approach worked both with the Smith Institute and with the Reform and Policy Exchange think tanks, which had become too close to the Conservatives.

The Charity Commission must decide whether the Atlantic Bridge can be reformed or whether it is a sham charity. If it is a sham, the Atlantic Bridge will make legal history and criminal charges may follow.

1. Liberal Conspiracy
   

   Atlantic Bridge hosting Henry Kissinger: Is this really a non-partisan charity? http://bit.ly/Cc4OJ

2. sunny hundal
   

   Good expose on Atlantic Bridge, the charity hosting Henry Kissinger tomorrow in London: http://bit.ly/Cc4OJ

3. David O'Keefe
   

   Liberal Conspiracy » Atlantic Bridge: Is this really a non-partisan charity? http://bit.ly/Cc4OJ

4. David NP Ludlam
   

   http://bit.ly/Cc4OJ (via @pickledpolitics)sounds like a Bilderberg 'b' event-apart from the arch lizard Kissinger who is A* listing

5. Daniel Byles
   

   What rot! "The Reagan-Thatcher partnership was a … dark time. The pair famously sponsored the Taliban in Afghanistan"
   http://ow.ly/ANLd

6. Stephen Newton
   

   Atlantic Bridge: Is this really a non-partisan charity? http://bit.ly/3UwSxQ

7. Michael Hanley
   

   RT @libcon Atlantic Bridge hosting Henry Kissinger: Is this really a non-partisan charity? http://bit.ly/Cc4OJ

8. JamieSW
   

   Atlantic Bridge: Is this really a non-partisan charity? http://is.gd/4RekD

9. Stephen Newton
   

   Atlantic Bridge: Is this really a non-partisan charity? http://bit.ly/3UwSxQ

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